Newswise — With former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking most of the states in Tuesday (April 26) Democratic primaries in the Northeastern Corridor, and Donald Trump sweeping all of them on the Republican side, the parties are dealing with two separate political races: wrapping up the nomination contests in each party, and now, the general election, a political scientist versed in executive power said.
Daniel P. Franklin is an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University, and is an expert on executive power, political culture, presidential legacies, and the relationships between the presidency and Congress. He is available for comment, and his contact information is in the contact box above, visible to registered and logged-in users of the Newswise system.
He is the author of “Pitiful Giants: Presidents in their Final Term” (Palgrave MacMillian, 2014). It explores the approaches U.S. presidents elected to a second term after World War II have taken to executive actions, including Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama, during their final years in power.
“There are two races going on here, one internal to the parties, and the other being the general election,” Franklin said. “Now that it is clear that Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee and that Donald Trump is going to be the same on the Republican side, the task of the parties is to end the nominations race as soon as possible to concentrate on the general election.”
The so-called ‘Acela Primary’ – named for Amtrak’s Acela Express train and some of the states it traverses – included contests in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, and the biggest delegate prize, Pennsylvania. Some Republican pollsters have put Pennsylvania, a state that has voted for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections since the 1990s, within reach of the party this election.
But Franklin said that despite the talk about how Republican voters are more motivated politically than Democrats this year, the GOP should be worried.
“If the total turnout in the primaries is an indicator of the core support for the party, the total Republican vote in all five states was far exceeded by the total Democratic vote,” he said. “That means that the Republicans are at a huge disadvantage in these states going into the general election. This should be of particular concern to the Republicans in Pennsylvania and Delaware which have been traditionally two party competitive states.”
For more about Franklin, including his CV and a list of publications, visit http://politicalscience.gsu.edu/profile/daniel-p-franklin/.
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