As Pennsylvania ballots continue to be counted, political science professor Dr. E. Fletcher McClellan joined FOX43 Morning News to discuss the election results.
YORK, Pennsylvania — Pennsylvanians voted in the 2024 general elections.
As votes continue to be countedprofessor of political science 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 several leadership roles. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
The political science expert says the Democratic Party was probably surprised by Vice President Kamala Harris loses to former President Donald Trump. He cites Democrats’ confidence in their ability to influence voters who decided at the last minute who they would support. While Democrats thought they had these voters in the bag, exit polls show the Trump campaign was more successful in attracting the remaining decision-makers to their side.
As for why Trump won PennsylvaniaDr. McClellan says the Commonwealth has followed national trends.
“I think this is part of a national wave,” the professor said. “I think it was primarily a referendum on the Biden, or Biden-Harris, presidency. There are many indicators of that: three-quarters of the country says they don’t like the direction the country is going. leads, with two-thirds of the country saying the economy is in bad shape, President Biden’s approval rating is 40% – and none of those numbers have improved throughout the campaign.”
“It turned out to be a pretty big wall that Vice President Harris had to climb,” he said.
Dr. McClellan says he’s seeing similar results across the country.
For more on his breakdown of election results, watch the video above.
Dr. McClellan has presented dozens of his own papers at professional conferences and has 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 Mentoring, and the 2020 Kreider Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
To follow the latest election results, you can visit our 2024 election results page here.
