CHICAGO — Ahead of the presidential debates, DePaul University faculty experts
are available to provide insight and commentary. Their expertise includes
history of political debates, voter behavior, political marketing and the role
of the news media and social media in shaping voter opinion.
Psychology and leadership
Jaclyn M. Jensen, Associate Professor of Management,
Driehaus College of Business. “While being hostile and negative might be very
flashy, research suggests that type of leadership style does much more harm
than good,” said Jensen. “There are also issues of honesty, openness and
transparency when you want to occupy the highest office in the land,” she said.
An organizational psychologist, Jensen’s research contributes to an emerging
literature on negative employee experiences at work, with a focus on
employee mistreatment, conflict, destructive relationships and hostile work
conditions. Jensen can discuss how candidates’ personalities, quirks and traits
might make them effective in the workplace, and how they use these qualities to
persuade voters. She can be reached at 312-362-6852 or jjense10@depaul.edu.
Youth vote
Zachary Cook, Adjunct Faculty, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and
School for New Learning. Cook’s academic focus includes the politics of the
millennial youth vote, campaign finance, voter turnout and political parties
and polarization. He can discuss day-to-day tactics and news narratives of the
2016 presidential campaign and its broader democratic significance. Cook can be
reached at 773-325-8679 or zcook@depaul.edu.
Race and politics
Valerie Johnson, Associate Professor and Chair of Political Science, College of
Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. “The presidential general election is in full
swing and has once again brought issues of race to the forefront,” said
Johnson. She is an expert on U.S. politics, African-American politics and urban
politics, multiracial political alliances and the politics of urban education. “Until
we fully reckon with the cumulative socioeconomic advantages and disadvantages
associated with past and continuing racism and white privilege, and begin open
and honest public dialogue about race, all of our hopes and dreams of a
democratic society will remain unrealized,” she said. “It is imperative that
the presidential nominees lead the way." Johnson can be reached at
773-325-4731 or vjohnso5@depaul.edu.
Presidential conventions and parties
R. Craig Sautter, Adjunct Faculty,
School for New Learning. Sautter is author of three books on presidential
conventions and elections (http://www.presidentialconventions.com).
For more than two decades, he has written and produced radio and TV ads for candidates
running for Congress and other offices across the nation. "This
presidential election is among the most fascinating in U.S. history, matching
one of the most politically experienced candidates ever against one of the
least prepared and most flamboyant. Yet going into the last month, the race
seems to be neck and neck. Why? The reasons are both personal and
institutional, including a reaction against an ‘entitled’ political class that
is prospering while much of the nation is economically hard-pressed. The end
game is likely to be wild." Sautter can be reached at rsautter@depaul.edu.
Political process
Michael L. Mezey, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, College of Liberal
Arts and Social Sciences. Mezey is an expert in congressional and
presidential elections and processes, public policymaking and the Electoral
College. He can discuss current polling, the Electoral College, and the
electoral coalitions that both Clinton and Trump need to assemble and energize
in order to prevail. He is also interested in the larger meaning of the Trump
candidacy for the process of presidential selection. Mezey is an editorial
board member of Legislative Studies Quarterly and gives frequent interviews to
local and national news media. He has published books on Congress and the U.S.
presidency. Mezey can be reached at 773-896-6766 or mmezey@depaul.edu.
Political
polarization
Wayne Steger, Professor of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts and
Social Sciences. Steger can speak about presidential
nominations, election forecasting, media coverage of presidential campaigns,
voting behavior and campaign finance. “The intense polarization of the
political parties and the strength of partisan identification means that the
vast majority of people have already made their decision and know who they will
vote for this fall. The big questions are who will vote or stay home, and what
will this election mean for the party coalitions,” said Steger. He can be
reached at 773-325-4240 or wsteger@depaul.edu.
Elections and public
opinion
Erik Tillman, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts
and Social Sciences. Tillman is an expert on elections, primaries and
public opinion. "The outcome of the general election will depend on the
following two questions. First, most partisans will 'fall in line' and vote for
their party's candidates — with few voting for the other party's candidate — but
will either candidate suffer enough defections to third parties, or from those
not voting, to affect the result? Second, how will circumstances such as the
economy, terrorism, and other issues change voters' perceptions of whether the
country is on the right track? The more that voters are confident and hopeful,
the more likely they are to vote for a continuation of Obama's policies." Tillman
can be reached at etillman@depaul.edu.
Role of journalism, social media
Benjamin Epstein, Assistant Professor of Political Science, College of Liberal
Arts and Social Sciences. Epstein calls presidential debates the “Super
Bowls” of campaign media coverage. “They attract the largest unified viewing
audience, and now with the increase in social media use, viewers are looking at
two screens during these events — the TV and their phones. These are
increasingly interactive affairs,” he said. Epstein researches American
politics, including political communication strategies, campaigns and
elections, electoral participation among various demographic groups and racial
and ethnic politics. In his forthcoming book, "The Political Communication
Cycle," Epstein explores the technological, behavioral and political roles
that interact in the recurring process of political communication change. “The
current period of rapid political communication change actually has a long
history that can help provide insights into how, why and when various political
actors innovate their strategies and where our political communication
practices might be headed,” he said. Epstein can be reached at bepstein@depaul.edu.
Press and the
presidency
Bruce Evensen, Professor of Journalism, College of Communication. “Like Reagan, Trump needs to cross the 'presidential plausibility' line in
his debate with Clinton,” said Evensen. "People always talk about the
Nixon-Kennedy debate where Nixon looked so washed out and ill. That tipped the
scales and probably gave Kennedy the narrow margin he needed. People tend not to
mention the Carter-Reagan debate, held on the eve of the 1980 election. The
election was quite close and Reagan's question, 'Are you better off now than
you were four years ago?' reminded voters of their discontent. He had passed
the plausibility bar and wound up winning,” he said. Evensen teaches a course
on “The Press and the Presidency” and can speak to the role of mass media in
presidential campaigns, including how candidates attempt to use the news media,
and how media use the candidates in the presidential race to garner page views.
Evensen can be reached at 312-362-7616 or bevensen@depaul.edu.
Political marketing
Bruce Newman, Professor of Marketing, Driehaus College of Business. "In 2012, Barack Obama won the popular vote with a 3 percent margin
but the electoral college vote with a 30 percent margin. In 2016, Hillary will
win the electoral college vote with a similar margin because she now owns the
big data file and micro-targeting tools that will allow her to pinpoint appeals
to voters sitting on the fence,” said Newman. An expert in the application of marketing
technology to politics, Newman’s book “The Marketing Revolution in Politics”
explores how recent U.S. presidential campaigns have adopted the latest marketing
techniques, learning from the winning formulas President Barack Obama’s
campaigns pioneered. Newman was a communication adviser to the senior
staff in the Clinton White House in 1995 and 1996. He is the author of several
books on the subject, including “The Marketing of the President,” and is editor
of the Journal of Political Marketing. Newman can be reached at 312-362-5186
or bnewman@depaul.edu.
Fandom, social media
Paul Booth, Associate Professor of Media and Cinema Studies, College of
Computing and Digital Media. Booth is an expert in the use of social media and
how candidates use it to reach their fans. “One of the most effective uses of
social media in this election is to garner fans,” said Booth. “Candidates will
have to appeal to different groups at different times.” Booth can be reached at
312-362-7753 or pbooth@depaul.edu.
Immigration
Kathleen Arnold, Political Scientist, College of Liberal Arts and Social
Sciences. Arnold
is a political theorist and immigration expert who has written on the use of
executive authority under the Obama administration and previous
administrations. “The presidential election is heavily focused on immigrants
and immigration. While current debates are interesting, most are fairly
inaccurate,” Arnold said. “For example, black and white terms such as legal and
illegal do not fairly represent the lives and conditions of immigrants. While
introducing punitive measures for criminals is logical, criminalizing
immigrants may not be so logical or even moral," she said. Arnold can be
reached at 773-325-4736 or karnol14@depaul.edu.
The Latino vote
Maria De Moya, Assistant Professor of
Strategic Communication, College of Communication. De Moya can discuss how
public relations campaigns target ethnic communities, specifically Latinos. She
studies how immigrants are treated in the media, as well as how ethnic
organizations communicate. She believes presidential candidates are portraying
Latinos as “saints or sinners,” polar opposite stereotypes that will alienate
many Latino voters. She can speak to issues that matter to Latinos and
effective messages that will resonate with voters. De Moya is fluent in Spanish
and can be reached at 312-362-6099 or mdemoyat@depaul.edu.
Economics
Michael Miller, Associate
Professor of Economics, Driehaus College of Business. An expert in the areas of monetary and fiscal
policy decisions, Miller believes the key to economic success going forward is
economic growth, not income redistribution. “Government fiscal policy must be
devised so as to allow the American economic engine to grow at its full
potential, which will be rooted most firmly in the encouragement of
entrepreneurship,” said Miller. “The funding of social programs and having
workers realize the fruits of their hard work cannot occur without this
growth.” Miller can be reached at 312-362-8477 or mmiller@depaul.edu.
History
Margaret Storey, Professor of History, College of Liberal Arts and Social
Sciences. Storey is a historian who researches the Civil War and American
history. “There are interesting parallels between the pre-Civil War political
environment and our own,” she said. “Our system is built on compromise, but
when compromise doesn’t happen, politics — or the art of the possible — itself
can break down. Leading up to the Civil War, similarly intransigent positions
forced changes in the party structure and the way that politics was conducted,
and those changes had dramatic, and often unanticipated, consequences.” She can
be reached at 773-325-7482 or mstorey@depaul.edu.
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Media Contacts:
Kristin
Claes Mathews
kristin.mathews@depaul.edu
312-241-9856
Jon Cecero
jcecero@depaul.edu
312-362-7640