presidential campaign | McCormack Speaks

November 9, 2016
by McCormack Speaks
0 comments

Lots of News Coverage, Little Light Shed on Issues

by Robert Turner
Senior Fellow, McCormack Graduate School

You are not wrong. Your sense that this presidential campaign has been all but devoid of serious issue discussion is not just an impression; it is a fact.

One concrete indicator: the venerable Tyndall Report, which has been following TV news programs for nearly three decades, reported near the end of the campaign that issues coverage has been less than a third compared with any year since they began keeping track in 1988.

This raises two questions: Does it matter? And, if so, what is to be done.
Continue Reading →

November 3, 2016
by McCormack Speaks
0 comments

Beware the Polls of November

by Robert Turner
Senior Fellow, McCormack Graduate School

Beware the polls of November–especially the ones picking “likely” winners.

Whom to believe? Is Clinton ahead by 7 percentage points (51-44), as the latest NBC/Survey Monkey poll indicates? Or perhaps by 3 or 2 or 1, as other polls show?

Or, is Trump ahead by 5 points, as the Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California tracking poll suggests? Or is it a dead heat, 46-46, as the new Washington Post/ABC poll indicates?

Continue Reading →

November 1, 2016
by McCormack Speaks
0 comments

A Wicked Portrayal: International Affairs in the 2016 Presidential Debates

by Marcia Mundt
Public Policy PhD student

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton engaged in three heated and colorful debates this election season discussing controversial issues including police violence, appointing a new justice on the Supreme Court, and the future of Obamacare. Mud rucking and slanted jabs aside, the candidates forwarded their policy positions on how to “Make America Great Again” and “Growing Together.” While domestic policy has taken center stage throughout most of the campaign season focusing on jobs, taxes, businesses, and the economy, international affairs has entered the limelight in the debates.

Continue Reading →

November 1, 2016
by McCormack Speaks
0 comments

Unpacking Clinton’s Workforce Development and Employment Policies

by Susan Crandall
Center for Social Policy

During the presidential debates, Candidate Clinton promoted a number of workforce development and employment policies aimed at building the middle class. In general, Clinton’s proposals are a step in the right direction, but they need to be fleshed out further to avoid unintended consequences and to ensure that that low paid workers advance. Here I dive deeper into several of these policies, and suggest additional modification to her proposals:

Continue Reading →

October 28, 2016
by McCormack Speaks
0 comments

On the third presidential debate of 2016

by George Chichirau
Public Policy PhD student

The final debate of the current campaign season touched on a large number of themes, and in far more detail than previous ones (although the bar was set very low early on). A significant amount of time was devoted to the economy, where Hillary Clinton marked the return of state-sanctioned dirigisme, and an end to laissez-faire. The reason given for such a stark break was simple: the absolute need to save the American middle class before it disappears, through increasing the minimum wage, fixing the health insurance marketplace, making universities more affordable and investing heavily in infrastructure and clean energy.

Continue Reading →