The University of Connecticut’s political science department held a 2024 election debrief Wednesday, Nov. 13, to discuss the results of the election and their implications.
“The 2024 Election Recap: Implication of Policy and Politics” event took place from 4 to 6 p.m. in both Susan V. Herbst Hall on the Storrs campus and the Stamford Downtown campus, according to the political science department’s Instagram. The two rooms met virtually over Webex, and students and members of the UConn community were encouraged to ask questions and participate in discussion.
The event acted as a roundtable discussion in which professors talked about a wide variety of topics, including how demographics of people who voted led to Donald Trump’s election to a second, non-consecutive term and how Republicans in the Senate will impact Trump’s selections for his cabinet.
There has been much debate since Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump last week as to why and how she lost the election. Reasons such as she wasn’t the right choice for candidate or that she joined the race too late were discussed. Beth Ginsberg, an associate political science professor from the Stamford Campus, said she believed it is because she did not do as well with most demographics this election compared to Biden in the 2020 election.
According to Ginsberg, 51 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds voted for Harris, while 47 percent voted for Trump during the 2024 election. Although Harris won in this category, when looking at the 2020 election, Biden carried 18 to 29-year-olds by 61 percent, a 10 percent difference. Ginsberg also stated that among 30 to 44-year-olds, Harris carried 50 percent to Trump’s 47 percent. In 2020, Biden carried 55 percent in this age range compared to Trump’s 43 percent.
Ginsberg found that when it comes to race, Biden did better with the white and Black voting demographics in 2020 compared to Harris.
“When it comes to race, amongst white voters, four years ago, Biden took that group ahead 43 percent of that group,” Ginsberg said. “This year, Harris took 41 percent. In Black voters, Harris got 85 percent of the Black vote and Biden got 91 percent.”
Ginsberg went on to discuss many other demographics finding similar patterns in how Harris did worse than Biden, which may have contributed to her loss.
Over the course of the past week, Trump’s picks for members of his cabinet have been announced, with many debating over the quality of his picks.
Ronald Schurin, a retired UConn political science professor and former executive assistant to the president of UConn, spoke at the roundtable about how he believes that Trump’s cabinet will be determined by how Republican Senators align.
For a presidential cabinet member to be picked, a person must be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, according to the White House’s website.
Schurin said that he believes that although there are many Republicans who align with Trump’s views who could tip the scale to approve Trump’s appointments, these approvals will be determined by if there are enough Republicans in the Senate who will resist Trump’s picks.
“The party has been remade in the image of Donald Trump. That said, are there enough institutionalists, particularly in the Senate, also in the house, to stand as resistant forces,” Schurin said at the roundtable.
He stated that however these Republican Senators align will determine what happens in Trump’s cabinet and what happens over the next few years.
Over the course of the discussion, many other professors spoke on what they are expecting over the course of the next few years, such as the effects the election will have on the economy, the judicial courts and climate change.
For more coverage of this event, go to the Life section of the Daily Campus website.