The campaign marathon has turned into a transition sprint, with thousands of decisions on personnel, policy and spending to be made in a fraction of the time it took the country to elect a new president.
Emeritus History Professor Keith Olson of the University of Maryland takes a hard look at the first 100 days of President Elect Barack Obama and what he - and his new administration - must do to get off on the right foot.
While many are focusing on race and the breaking of barriers, Graham Lee, Ph.D., professor of political science at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, is talking about the changes he's observed in voting trends. "This is a turning point," explains Lee. "What we have is no longer party-centered voting. We've entered the era of "˜candidate-centered' politics. Most voters aren't strong Democrats or strong Republicans anymore. Party is important, but it keeps getting less and less important."
Before the election results rolled in late Tuesday night, political analysts across the country were feverishly predicting which states would go blue or red. Now that the dust has settled and the electoral map is clearly painted, those same experts are looking back on the campaigns to analyze how Senator John McCain and President-Elect Barack Obama got where they are today.
Electing a non-white person as chief executive sets the United States apart from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other advanced democracies, says Milind Thakar, associate professor of international relations at the University of Indianapolis. Thakar is available for interview on this and related topics.
The election of Barack Obama confirmed that polling data for this year's Presidential election was correct and helped dispel the notion that racial bias would play a role in the Obama-McCain matchup, according to a researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
In an opinion piece by Gettysburg College Economics Prof. Mark Hopkins, he argues from an economic point of view that it may not matter which candidate won last week's presidential election.
An expert on U.S. politics, USC Professor Patrick James, offers a play-by-play on the tactical decisions in each camp that led to Barack Obama's victory. What did Obama do right? Did choosing Sarah Palin cause John McCain's defeat? James also sketches a roadmap for Obama -- and the smarting Republican Party -- as they look ahead to 2012.
Education reform strategies, performance pay for teachers and No Child Left Behind are among the education policy issues expected to be tackled by the Obama administration in the coming months. The U.S. health care industry and future outlook for health care policy are likely to be priorities as well. Academic experts are available for interviews.
This year the election for president in North Carolina was closer than ever, with less than a percentage point between results for John McCain and Barack Obama. Wake Forest political analyst John Dinan says the Obama campaign's decision to continue to contest the state after the primaries led to his narrow lead in the state.
Obama will confront challenges as serious as any ever faced by an American president, says the dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. He asked his experts to create policy briefs for the incoming administration. They recommended a multi-agency approach to security and a diplomacy-first strategy; more aid to endangered businesses; and taking small steps toward health care reform.
Barack Obama has made history as the first African-American to win the White House. University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Associate Professor Horace Huntley, Ph.D., offers his perspective on the historical significance of Obama's win. Huntley teaches African-American history at UAB.
How important were YouTube, Facebook, blogs, wikis and Web sites in this election? Allan Louden, associate professor of communication at Wake Forest University, can explain how new advertising methods, mobilization, debates and the Internet contributed to the Barack Obama victory and changed forever the nature of campaigning for the presidency.
The University of Delaware congratulates alumnus Joseph R. Biden Jr., vice president-elect of the United States. Archived photos of Biden, as a student and university supporter, are available on a website for use by media outlets.
Experts consider the far-reaching impact of the Obama presidency on a range of issues from history, race relations, popular culture and youth to economics, world view, gay rights and the news media.
On Wednesday morning Americans awoke to a new President and Vice-President, that is, if they went to sleep at all on election night! For some Americans, there will jubilation and celebration, but for others, the ones whose candidates lost, there may be feelings of failure, loss and disaffection, says a Temple University psychologist.
America could see record numbers of African-Americans voting this week. What factors influence turnout among black voters? Research shows churchgoing does.
Several American University experts are available to provide analysis as the race for the White House comes to an end on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Bankrupt banks, government bailouts and rising unemployment: just a few in a series of factors that has led to violent swings in the stock market since late September. Now the markets face Tuesday's election, and the numbers at the polls are likely to affect the numbers on Wall Street, according to Andreas Rauterkus, Ph.D., assistant professor of Finance at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Experts on presidential and state politics follow in alphabetical order: scroll down for experts on the election and the economy; election night viewing at USC; and pre- and post-election forums.
Of all the conceivable problems that could lead to a miscount Election Day, there's one possibility that voters can do something about "“ avoid making election machine-related errors, says a University of Maryland researcher who led a comprehensive study of voter problems using touch screen and paper-based machines. "Under the best of circumstances, simple voter mistakes can make the difference in a close election, so it's up to individuals to go into the booth prepared and aware of the pitfalls," says UM researcher Paul S. Herrnson.
University of Virginia sources for presidential election coverage, including politics professors and experts in election-related fields (implicit bias, voting machines, history, etc.).
A smooth presidential transition with an emphasis on advance preparation and avoidance of past pitfalls is crucial to a strong start for the next administration, says political scientist David E. Lewis. Lessons learned from past presidents include the need to prioritize positions associated with public safety and president's agenda.
Former Elector and constitutional law expert Rick Hardy, professor and chair of the political science department at Western Illinois University, addresses several topics concerning Election 2008 that will affect the future of this nation in a video podcast available on WIU's YouTube site at www.youtube.com/westernillinoisu.
Does your personality influence who you vote for? The short answer is yes, according to John Mayer, professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire. As Americans go to the polls in record numbers to vote for the next U.S. president, some voters will crave social stability and others will crave social change. Liberals and conservatives divide according to these personality preferences.
University of Maryland Communication Research Professor Kathleen Kendall gives her take on the "Obamamercial" Wednesday evening. She says "... the producers tried to cover too many ideas, and lost that crucial sense of focus required in political advertising. The broadcast fell short in developing the case that Senator Obama was the solution to our problems."
In spite of a grim economy, many Southwesterners in Arizona, Nevada, Texas and New Mexico are optimistic that conditions in the U.S. will improve over the next year, according to the Arizona State University-Southwest Poll released Oct. 30. The poll also shows that the race for the White House remains close.
Voters need to watch how language in the media can shape our perception of reality without us being aware of it, especially on the topics of "fraud" and "suppression."
The most recent Temple Poll shows that the Pennsylvania electorate, one in which McCain trails Obama by 9 percentage points, supports the principle of a divided federal government. A majority of likely voters in the Commonwealth believe control of the presidency and Congress should be split between the parties, while just 18 percent believe one party should control both branches.
Young voters prefer Barack Obama to John McCain by a 20-point margin and are most concerned about the economy, job creation for young people, and improving access to affordable health care according to the AU Polling Analysis of Young Voters in the 2008 Election, a joint project by students in American University's School of Communication, USA Today, and Gallup.
With the 2008 presidential election days away, a new study provides compelling evidence that mandatory voting may be the best way to reduce electoral corruption. The research focused on "vote buying," the act of bribing voters. According to John Morgan, professor at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, policy reforms combining the present secret ballot with the required vote of every eligible American would remove the possibility of vote buying.
Do "undecided" voters actually make their choices before they realize? That is a question University of Virginia psychology professor Brian Nosek is trying to answer.
Senator Barack Obama leads Senator John McCain by 48%-39% in the Presidential campaign in Virginia, according to a Roanoke College poll. Former Democratic Governor Mark Warner also leads former Republican Governor Jim Gilmore 57%-22% in the U.S. Senate contest.
With the election days away, politics is currently a major topic of conversation everywhere. Political conversations will soon become even more charged after the November election when there are clear winners and losers. But do politics make for safe water-cooler conversation? Such talk can be risky, according to Eric Patton, Ph.D., assistant professor of management at Saint Joseph's University.
According to a new poll sponsored by Temple University's Institute for Public Affairs, Senator Barack Obama now leads Senator John McCain by 50 percent to 41 percent among Pennsylvanians likely to vote in the November 4 presidential election. Just 8 percent remain undecided, and half of that group prefers one candidate or the other.
A key element in winning elections is successfully identifying citizens for targeted campaign communications. This is an example of what Abraham Lincoln used to speak of as his ideal "“ it is still referred to as "Lincoln's perfect list," says University at Buffalo political scientist Joshua Dyck, Ph.D.
Political experts at the University of North Carolina Wilmington can provide insight into the approaching historic 2008 American presidential election and international politics.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. Many Catholics are saying, "He simply cannot be right." Well, the short answer is: Biden is right, says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
As this historic election season heads into its final week, faculty experts at the University of Indianapolis are available to discuss the political process and the top issues on voters' minds.
What can the nation expect of its new first lady? Three things and maybe a fourth, says Laura van Assendelft, professor of political science at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, VA and a scholar on the role of women in politics.
"No evidence exists of any serious threat of voter fraud, at present or in any recent election cycle," says Greg Magarian, J.D., election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. "Filing false registration forms does not constitute voter fraud," he says. "Voter fraud requires voting by a person who is not legally entitled to vote. That is a difficult trick to pull off, and simply turning in a registration form for 'Captain Crunch' does almost nothing to enable it."
Twenty-four years and a gulf of ideology separates the first two women to share the nation's major party tickets. But the way the media talks about Sarah Palin and Geraldine Ferraro hasn't changed, according to ongoing research by members of "the Palin Watch" at The University of Alabama.
Based on past elections and economic factors, two professors at the University of Oregon predict that Senator Barack Obama will win the presidential election by a 52 to 48 margin. State income levels will tell the story.
The high drama of the 2008 presidential election has provided ample fodder for sociological analysis in the fall issue of the American Sociological Association's Contexts magazine, which features politically themed feature articles from leading sociologists who are available to comment on election-related topics.