Published: July 29, 2016
Author: Robert Schmuhl ’70
Editor’s note: Head of state, chief diplomat, commander-in-chief, guardian of the economy – Americans are fixing to elect another president, so we asked Notre Dame’s in-house pundit to put the moment, the issues, the candidates and the choices in context and perspective. Bob Schmuhl’s commentary on American politics and journalism frequently appears in major news outlets from the Boston Globe to the BBC to Irish public radio. His exclusive commentary on the 2016 presidential election will run on magazine.nd.edu every two weeks.
Now that the Republican and Democratic national conventions are history, one common denominator of the 2016 presidential campaign stands out in bold relief. Both major parties this fall will be united by high-decibel hatred of the nominee of the other party.
As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton target visits to states they consider competitive and roll out television ads intended, in some cases, to scare undecided voters, they start the three-month slog to Election Day with a large segment of the electorate less than enchanted at the prospect of either a Trump or a Clinton White House come January 20, 2017.
Read the remainder of the Notre Dame Magazine article here.