YORK, Pa. — Pennsylvanians have cast their ballots in the 2024 General Election.
As votes continue to be counted, political science professor Dr. E. Fletcher McClellan from Elizabethtown College joined FOX43 Morning News to discuss the election results.
Dr. McClellan has worked at the College for 41 years in various capacities, including in several leadership roles. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
The political science expert says the Democratic party was likely surprised by Vice President Kamala Harris' loss to former President Donald Trump. He cites Democrats' confidence in their ability to sway voters who decided last minute who they would be supporting. While Democrats thought they had those voters in the bag, exit polls show that the Trump campaign did a better job of pulling late deciders to their side.
As to why Trump won Pennsylvania, Dr. McClellan says the Commonwealth followed nationwide trends.
"I think it's part of a national wave," the professor said. "I think mainly this was a referendum on the Biden, or Biden-Harris, presidency. A lot of indicators of this—three-fourths of the country saying that they didn't like the direction the country was going in, two-thirds of the country saying that the economy is in bad shape, President Biden's approval rating at 40%—and none of those figures improved during the whole campaign."
"So this was a pretty big wall for Vice President Harris to climb, as it turned out," he said.
Dr. McClellan says he is seeing similar results across the country.
To see more of his breakdown of the election results, watch the video above.
Dr. McClellan has presented dozens of his own papers at professional conferences and led many of his students to do the same. Dr. McClellan has won several awards, including the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 Craig L. Brians Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Mentorship, and the 2020 Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence.
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