2020 Post-Election Analysis: What Happened and Why

Join us for a post-election analysis with Professors Steven Greene and Andrew Taylor at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, 2020. The event, which will take place over Zoom this year, has become an election year tradition for the two political science professors and one that School of Public and International Affairs students have come to depend on. 

Like many people in America today, Greene and Taylor do not always agree, but as they have been colleagues for many years, Greene notes that their disagreements are “entirely in good faith” when it comes to discussing the election and the political nature surrounding it. Taylor adds, “we may interpret data and results in different ways, which provides for more interesting conversations.” These conversations allow students to become exposed to different perspectives and this event serves as a great opportunity to realize the many shared ideas between different points of view through a very civil conversation. 

Senior Erinn Foote is looking forward to their analysis. She attended the 2018 post-election discussion and found it to be insightful:

The event was really interesting and educational. It was a good way to understand the 2018 midterms and there were interesting points by both professors.

Although both Taylor and Greene prefer to have this conversation in person with a live audience, they both agree it will be successful as a virtual event. For one thing, it may be accessible to more people. Greene shared that he enjoys demonstrating the “genuine value of the political science perspective” to our world today, and Taylor is looking forward to analyzing the political data and sharing it with the audiences. “Our students,” Taylor said, “are highly interested in the election and have an appetite for analysis. I also enjoy hearing what Dr. Greene has to say and arguing with him.” 

The Greene-Taylor post-election analysis has grown into a popular tradition because, as Taylor suggests, analyzing elections “allows the application of what students have learned in their courses to the real world—a skill students need to excel after university.” Dr. Greene agrees with this sentiment, adding that ”it is only natural that whatever conversations we have about elections should be a shared discussion” with our students.

Maria D. Almeida is a political science major and journalism minor in the class of 2024.