The Elections of 2024
A timely analysis of the historic 2024 elections from some of the leading minds in US political science
The political scientist Michael Nelson and a team of scholars offer here a comprehensive, scholarly, and compelling account of the transformative 2024 elections and their unprecedented immediate aftermath. This diverse cast of experts scrutinizes every stage of the presidential race as well as the concurrent congressional elections in all aspects, from campaigning to media coverage to PACs and fundraising. Supplemented by critical data gathered from exit polling and voting results from primaries, caucuses, and the general election, this volume weighs the consequences of the 2024 elections not only for the presidency but for Congress and the entire U.S. political ecosystem.
Contributors
Marjorie Randon Hershey, Indiana University * Marc J. Hetherington, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill * Charles R. Hunt, Boise State University * Gary C. Jacobson, University of California, San Diego * John Anthony Maltese, University of Georgia * William G. Mayer, Northeastern University * Michael Nelson, Rhodes College * Gerald M. Pomper, Rutgers University * Paul J. Quirk, University of British Columbia * Andrew Rudalevige, Bowdoin College
Extremely valuable to instructors of American government and electoral politics. If newspapers give us the first draft of history, these volumes are the second. And they are written by accomplished scholars who provide thoughtful commentary on the controversial political events of our time.- Robert Strong, Washington and Lee University, author of Character and Consequence: Foreign Policy Decisions of George H. W. Bush
- CHOICENotable chapters include Marjorie Randon Hershey’s analysis of election media coverage. Hershey argues that media norms and standard practices worked in Trump’s favor because reporters, constrained by their notions of objectivity, repeated Trump's rhetoric while shying away from holding Trump accountable for fictions, divisions, and incoherence. Charles Hunt breaks down campaign spending, showing that the total spent on the 2024 race was double what was spent in 2008 (in constant dollars). Hunt notes the novel ways big-money donors found to spend record amounts on the campaign without limit or disclosure. The last word goes to Pomper himself, who candidly admits, 'The presidential election of 2024 defied precedent, prediction, and possibly, explanation.'
