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Clinton graded higher than Trump by region’s political experts

October 20, 2016 adriana

Hillary Clinton came off better than Donald Trump by staying more on message and keeping her cool most of the time, a group of regional political experts contacted immediately after Wednesday night’s debate concluded.

Travis Ridout, WSU professor of political science and co-director of Wesleyan Media Project tracking U.S. political ads, gave Clinton a grade of ‘B,’ saying, “Most of the time she looked pretty presidential and appealed to the persuadable voters, like suburban women.”

He gave Trump a ‘C-‘, saying, “The first 30 minutes talking about substantive policy went pretty well, and his base would react pretty positively, but he didn’t appeal to persuadable voters.”

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The Spokesman-Review

Team names under fire

October 17, 2016 adriana

The Cleveland Indians is just one of many sports teams with controversial names.

Richard King, WSU professor of critical culture, gender, and race studies, commented on the issue, which is a focus of his ongoing research. “It’s something that most people haven’t thought about,” he said.

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The National

Expert: Incivility far from rock bottom

October 14, 2016 adriana

Incivility isn’t a cause of division in American society.

It’s a symptom.

“People become more uncivil because they get passionate about politics because politics matter to them,” said Cornell W. Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service and professor of political science at WSU. “We have deep divisions and people care passionately about this, and that’s what produces incivilities.

“Political incivility is everywhere.”

Clayton was keynote speaker Thursday during a day-long conference at North Idaho College. The event, titled “Returning Civility to America’s Democracy: The Promotion of Civil Dialogue,” examined the state of civility in American politics and the relationship between incivility and democracy.

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CDAPress.com

Eastern promise: gender lessons from the Islamic world

October 11, 2016 adriana

Many predominantly Muslim countries boast an enviably high proportion of female engineers. Not only are women participating in STEM subjects in much higher numbers than in the West, they are also excelling. But what are the factors drawing them in and, conversely, driving their Western counterparts away?

According to Julie Kmec, WSU distinguished professor of sociology and co-leader of a new $530,000 study of what motivates women to study engineering, a variety of interlocking socio-political elements are at play.

“We have this sort of ‘be happy, follow your dreams’ mentality, coupled with a macro-cultural value system… a system of gender centralism, which essentially is this notion that men are good at this, and women are good at something different,” Kmec said.

“In developing countries, the economy does not necessarily allow people to have a choice. In Pakistan, for example, there are limited roads and bridges, and they get washed out every time there’s a storm. And so the infrastructure of countries that are developing… means people go to study what’s important for their country.”

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Under eastern Washington runs a fault line that has jolted U.S. politics

October 11, 2016 adriana

So why is it that eastern Washington – heavily reliant on crop subsidies, fire protection, highway construction, higher education, Medicare, unemployment benefits – has shifted to politicians who have fought for government to spend less, tax less, do less?

For answers and analysis, The Spokesman-Review turned to Cornell W. Clayton, a political scientist who specializes in the study of polarization. He serves as director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University.

When Foley and his generation served in Congress, each of the two political parties was divided. To fashion a majority and get anything done, Clayton said, the leaders of Foley’s generation had to work across the aisle.

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The Spokesman-Review