Furman University

2020 Election Day: What Will Matter?

Presented on: Thursday, October 22nd at 12:00 PM EDT

Furman Alumni Business Series

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It’s 2020. There’s a pandemic, a Supreme Court vacancy, a divided Congress, ongoing protests across the country, wildfires, hurricanes, concerns about the postal service managing an avalanche of absentee ballots, a Republican incumbent president who eschews the norms of politics, and a Democratic candidate with more than 4 decades in politics who has chosen an African American woman as his running mate.  So, what will determine the election?  Danielle Vinson '89 and Jessica Taylor '07 will look at what political science and polling data suggest about the issues, candidate traits and records, and concerns related to the voting process and turnout and what that may mean for the outcome of the presidential and Senate races.

Danielle Vinson is a Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University.  She is a 1989 graduate of Furman University and received her PhD in Political Science from Duke University.  She is the author of Local Media Coverage of Congress and Its Members and Congress and the Media: Beyond Institutional Power.  She has written articles on communication in Congress, political parties and the media, religion and politics in the media, and communication and spending in political campaigns.  She teaches courses on Congress, the Presidency, Media and Politics, and American Government. As a native South Carolinian, she is often called upon by local, national, and even international press, especially during presidential primaries, to make sense of South Carolina politics (not quite as impossible as it sounds).

Jessica Taylor is the Senate and Governors Editor for The Cook Political Report. Founded in 1984, The Cook Political Report provides analyses of presidential, U.S. Senate, House and gubernatorial races. The New York Times has called The Cook Political Report, "a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative."

Before joining Cook, Taylor was a political reporter for National Public Radio for five years, where she covered elections and breaking news, ranging from the White House to both chambers of Congress and statewide elections. She was also a contributing author to the 2020 edition of The Almanac of American Politics.

Taylor has previously served as a senior analyst/reporter for The Rothenberg Political Report (now Inside Elections), where her quotes and analysis appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications. She has reported on politics for several prestigious outlets over the past decade — including the NBC News Political Unit, National Journal, Politico and The Hill, where she served as campaign editor. She has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN and CNN. Her expert analysis contributed to real-time election night coverage and analysis at CBS in 2012.

A Tennessee native, she graduated magna cum laude in 2007 with a B.A. in political science from Furman University.