presidency

With the first-ever election of an African-American president, a debate began immediately about what this signaled in terms of American racial progress, and whether or not a “post-racial” society might be closer to realization. To test attitudes about the meaning of this event in real time, researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed the same random representative sample of the population directly before and after President Obama’s election.

Iowa has seen significant demographic changes in the past decade as its Latino population has grown. How this trend intersects with voting patterns and political attitudes is of strong interest to scholars and election observers, of course, because of the Iowa Caucuses’ importance in the presidential nomination process.

In U.S. presidential nominating contests, campaigns must figure out how to allocate limited resources in order to maximize outcomes in terms of contests won and party delegates gained. Strategies may, of course, depend on the relative strength of a candidacy and be contingent on available money and candidate time.

Early money raised, momentum and high poll numbers are often seen by political observers as key factors in predicting how candidates will fare in the presidential primaries. However, the role of endorsements — particularly from a core group of influential party backers — is a factor that, according to some political scientists, has not received enough attention.