Stevenson Trust for Citizenship

While the popular national vote in the U.S. Presidential election may not have been too far out of line with the expectations before the event, the Electoral College translated Donald Trump’s successes into a substantial lead, securing him another four years in the White House. In addition, Trump’s Republicans have claimed the U.S. Senate, which will help to promote Trump’s Make American Great Again agenda and upending domestic and foreign policy. This special panel organised by the Stevenson Trust unpacked the elections’ outcome and – importantly – assess the implications for the U.S. and its place in the world.

Speaker Bios

Professor Angelia Wilson

Angelia Wilson (D.Phil, University of York; B.A. Hons. McMurry University) joined the University of Manchester in 1994. Professor Wilson's research explores the intersections of social conservatism, Christianity, feminist political theory and policies regulating sexuality.

Professor Ty Solomon

Ty Solomon is Professor of International Relations at the University of Glasgow. Before coming to Glasgow, he lectured in international relations at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida. He also earned his PhD from the University of Florida. He has taught a variety of courses, including American Foreign Policy, Emotions, War & Peace, International Terrorism, International Security, and International Relations Theory.

Professor Christopher Carman

Christopher J. Carman (Ph.D., 2000, University of Houston) is the Stevenson Professor of Citizenship at the University of Glasgow. He has previously taught at the Universities of Strathclyde and Pittsburgh. He research focuses on political representation and its alternatives (e.g., public petitions systems), elections and electoral processes, public opinion and pulic (environmental) policy.

The opinion polls through August, September and October 2024 have revealed an incredibly close Presidential election contest in the US. Indeed, by many estimates, this is looking to be one of the closest presidential contests in the modern era with the outcome potentially on a knife edge. And that fact should focus attention as it raises the very real possibility that the US could experience even more political strife and conflict after 5 November, depending on the vote in several crucial swing states. Please join Professor Carman one week before the US elections as he discusses the state of the contest and what we might expect when we wake up on 6 November (and beyond).

Speaker Bio

Christopher J. Carman (Ph.D., 2000, University of Houston) is the Stevenson Professor of Citizenship at the University of Glasgow. He has previously taught at the Universities of Strathclyde and Pittsburgh. He research focuses on political representation and its alternatives (e.g., public petitions systems), elections and electoral processes, public opinion and pulic (environmental) policy. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as co-authored several books examining politics, elections and representation in the United States, Scotland and the wider United Kingdom.

At the University of Glasgow Professor Carman has served as the Head of Subject (Politics & International Relations), the Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences (the largest School in the University, made up of the subject areas of Politics; Sociology; Urban Studies & Public Policy; Economic & Social History; and Central & Eastern European Studies); the Deputy Head of the School and Research Convener of Social and Poltical Sciences and the Glasgow Academic Dean of the Glasgow-Nankai Joint Graduate School.

The 2024 U.S. presidential election has been mired in false claims and half-truths on social media by political actors, scams by outside organizations, and Russian disinformation campaigns. This talk provides an overview and unpacks a few of the major false information and disinformation campaigns this election season on Twitter and Facebook and on paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. It explores the effect of these campaigns on delegitimizing democracy.

Jennifer Stromer-Galley is Professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, USA. She is author of Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age (2nd. Ed., 2019), which provides a review between 1996 and 2016 of the ways U.S. presidential candidates have used digital technologies for strategic communication. She’s been principal investigator of over $15 million in grants to support research on cognitive biases, complex reasoning, and strategic messaging during political campaigns. Her current research project studies misinformation in the 2024 presidential election with a generous grant from Neo4j. An interactive dashboard of the projects’ analysis of paid ads on Facebook and Instagram can be found at: https://electiongraph.ischool.syr.edu.