| Arthur Lupia PhD and “Envisioning the Future” Lecture Series. |
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| Written by Briana McGlinchey | ||||
| Thursday, 25 September 2008 | ||||
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Arthur Lupia PhD, a professor at the University of Michigan came to Lake State on Tuesday night to speak on the future of the American political system and the 2008 presidential election. Lupia’s lecture was part of the “Envisioning the future” lecture series this week as part of the president’s inauguration on Friday. Lupia is a professor of political science and research with the University of Michigan’s institute for social research. He conducts research on things such as politics and policy, including voting elections, persuasion, opinion change, civic education, coalition governance, legislative-bureaucratic relationships, and decision –making under uncertainty. He has also written and published numerous books, articles, and appeared in many journals and newspapers. Lupia has also presented more than two-hundred lectures in more than thirteen countries.
The night started off with the choir performing three pieces and then Dr. Gary Johnson of the political science department introducing Lupia. Lupia started off by introducing his idea that there are two futures: one being the future of the long run, and the other being the future for the next six weeks. In the future of the long run he talked about the Electoral College (which is an institution made up of chosen voters from all fifty states which, like the Senate, was put into place to ensure a more equal representation of states with smaller populations) and how in history there were four cases where the winner of the Electoral College did not become president. In order to win the Electoral College, a candidate must have 270 votes; in the cases of the 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000 elections the winner of the election did not accomplish this. In the beginning of Lupia’s talk about the future of the next six weeks, he started off by questioning the reliability of media-run polls. He began going into the different types of media through history; the nineteenth century era of the newspapers, the pre-cable telegraph eras, and the strong audio-visual media settings of today. Today we have an ongoing news cycle at all times. Things are processed and heard and seen by others quicker. This makes “outrageous claims” make it to the ears of the people more rapidly and gives the opponent a chance to retaliate faster. The main aspect of the future of the next week is determined by the reliability of the polls. Lupia questioned this because such polls can be heavily biased based on the sampled population and the wording of the questions asked. Lupia also pointed out the stats on the history of young people voting. In the past it has shown that fewer and few young people have been taking part in the election. Katie Kearney, a student at LSSU had this response to the event: “I found it to be very helpful, especially since many young people don’t vote so if we all do, it will make a difference, and I now realize my vote does count.” For more information on Lupia visit http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lupia/ More information on the electoral college can be found at http://www.electoral-vote.com/  Add as favourites (0)
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