Every four years, United States citizens make decisions at the polls on their local, state and national leaders that reverberate across the globe. Every day, Wittenberg University political science faculty members prepare students to make the most informed decisions possible.
Participation in the political process is a hallmark of U.S. citizenship, and Wittenberg has established a curriculum that ensures students are well prepared to carry out their civic duties upon graduation. Members of Wittenberg’s political science faculty, in particular, are keeping a close eye on the 2012 U.S. election, and three of these experts offered some insights just days before hundreds of races across the country are decided.
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Ed Hasecke, Wittenberg class of 1997, teaches classes in American National Government, Presidency, Public Policy and U.S. Congress, among others. He has contributed to several scholarly journals and has presented at multiple national conferences. His research interests involve studying the impact of party loyalty on legislative success and improving pedagogical methods for teaching the art of politics through classroom simulations.
Hasecke received Wittenberg’s Collegium Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011 after impressing the selection committee with his efforts to link course material he teaches with his students’ roles as citizens.
Please discuss the current state of political parties in the United States. Is the independent voter a thing of the past?
Political scientists ask if the public has become polarized. There is good evidence that political elites, meaning members of congress, have polarized. This shift is the result of the two political parties becoming more ideologically homogenous. The big question is whether or not elite polarization has led to a polarization of the public. The evidence on this question is mixed. The elite cues the public gets are more polarized. The rise of more partisan media provides polarized messages. But, the public as a whole doesn't see Obama or Romney as more extreme than past candidates for president.
This race was going to be close no matter what. Political science models based on economic fundamentals predict a race within 1 or 2 percentage points.
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Rob Baker has been a member of Wittenberg’s faculty since 1987, and he has earned numerous awards for teaching excellence during that time, culminating in the 2011 Wittenberg Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest recognition the university can bestow on a faculty member. He teaches a variety of political sciences courses, and he has published several textbooks and articles on such topics as small city board systems, state political culture, U.S. state legislators and Congressional behavior.
Baker’s research currently involves projects examining the origin and effectiveness of neighborhood organizations in Springfield, and a multi-state study about why people volunteer to serve on local boards and commissions. He has served on the Clark County Steering Committee on the Federally Qualified Health Care Center and the Clark County Combined Health District Board, in addition to the serving as president of the Board of Trustees of Rocking Horse Community Health Center.
What connections are evident between this year’s presidential election and state and local elections and politics?
Not since the election of 1980 have we seen the presidential candidates focused so intently on what Woodrow Wilson called “the cardinal constitutional question” of the proper balance between the national and state/local governments. Whichever choice the American people take will have significant consequences for how their state and local services are funded and delivered. President Obama’s position supporting a more active and progressive role for the federal government could not be more contrasting to Governor Romney’s pledges to reduce the size and role of the federal government and push more responsibilities on to the sub-national governments. With much of our attention focused on this real choice for President, more than 6,000 state legislative seats (82 percent of all seats) and 11 governorships are being contested across the country, and the overarching question about the role of government serves as the animating principle at this level as well. Republicans had their best election year in decades in 2010, partly fueled by the Tea Party inroads in several states, when they picked up 720 state legislative seats and control of 23 legislative chambers putting them in charge of 60 percent of all the partisan state legislative chambers.
Republican control of these chambers is even more entrenched in 2012 since this is the first election after redistricting across the states, and the effects of the party’s gerrymandering will make it harder for the Democrats to cut into the Republican gains. We have seen what this balance of power has meant in states such as Wisconsin, and our own state of Ohio. Cuts to local government funding and efforts to reduce the role of public sector unions have emerged providing stark evidence of the theory of a reduced role of government, and the downward pressure of funding cuts has put increased pressure on local governments to come up with additional revenue sources to keep the most basic government services intact. Many of the decisions that affect us the most on a daily basis are made by our state and local officials. Essential services like education, police and fire protection, health regulations, and transportation systems, as well as recreation and leisure activities, are all dependent on sufficient governmental capacity to deliver them. In the end that degree of capacity is determined by our collective notions and decisions about the proper role of government, and these 2012 elections are clearly framed at all levels by that “cardinal constitutional question.”
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Staci Rhine has been a member of Wittenberg’s faculty since 1994, teaching a variety of courses across the political science curriculum, including American National Government, Campaigns and Elections, Public Opinion, and Media and Politics. She was Wittenberg’s 1997 recipient of the Omicron Delta Kappa Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Rhine’s current research interests involve studying the media’s effect on political knowledge and participation, and the patterns of media consumption and their effect on citizenship.
Please discuss the media's role in the 2012 American presidential election and how social media has changed the way voters get their information.
Candidates use a mix of traditional media and social media to reach voters. The recent candidate visits to Ohio are designed to attract favorable, local media coverage. The news outlets show the events and give a voice to the campaign messages.
But candidates are also attempting to reach voters who do not use the traditional media sources. Many people do not read the local newspaper or watch local news. Young people, in particular, are hard to reach. Therefore, more tailored ads are directed at them when they watch a YouTube video or visit another website. Because we are increasingly tracked as consumers, candidates can buy information about our habits and preferences. This is called micro-targeting. Our search terms tell them about our interests.
As a humorous aside, the micro-targeting can be wrong. I am receiving ads from the wrong congressional district and from groups who have misidentified my religion. So their information is far from perfect.
Compiled By: Ryan Maurer
Photos By: Erin Pence
