Joe Biden’s campaign tactics will win the day.
Sherri Rose, chairwoman of French, director of French study abroad programs:
“I predict that Joe Biden will win because some Americans that didn’t vote in the last election now feel a greater sense of urgency to respond to Biden’s message of unifying the country.”
Kelli Kazmier, assistant professor of chemistry:
“If I have to select in a binary, I would predict that Biden will win because that is what the polls suggest. However, I truly have no idea what will happen because the race is close across many states.”
Blake McAllister, assistant professor of philosophy:
“The correct answer is, ‘Lord only knows!’ If I’m forced to guess, then I’d tentatively say Biden. It comes down to what people see as the bigger threat. If the focus is on the danger of President Donald Trump’s personality and rhetoric, then Biden is likely to win. If the focus is on the breakdown of law and order, as it was some time ago, then Trump has the advantage. But in the last few weeks I’ve seen great attention paid to the former and relatively little to the latter. So the edge goes to Biden at the moment.”
Gary Wolfram, professor of political economy:
“It is going to be difficult to predict the election, as polling in the era of cell phones is difficult, and given the winner-take-all procedure to assign Electoral College votes, most of the efforts will be in 12 or so ‘battleground’ states. Information that ‘Biden leads Trump by such and such a percentage’ in the nation-wide vote is immaterial since that is not how candidates campaign. My suspicion is that Biden will win, just given the fact that Trump is campaigning in states he might have been expected to win.”
Evalyn Homoelle, freshman:
“I believe Biden will most likely win, since people are so angry with how Trump has handled the pandemic and other issues, and since a huge component of a vote for Biden is Kamala Harris, a far more active, progressive Democrat. I also believe that while the polls and election results may be tied, the mail-in ballot situation will ultimately leave America without a clear victor on Nov. 4.”
Amelia Rasmussen, senior:
“Biden. His campaign is louder and Trump isn’t doing himself any favors.”
Matt Fisher, senior:
“Biden.”
President Donald Trump speaking at the Fox News presidential debate. | Flickr
A ‘silent majority’ will reelect Donald Trump.
Bruno Cortes, lecturer in politics:
“I’m cautiously predicting a Trump win. The polls that have put Biden ahead by double-digits are likely misleading — as they were in 2016. Voter turnout among the young has been low so far, a problem for the Democratic Party. Democrats have also failed to tie Trump to the country’s mishandled response to COVID-19. Meanwhile, enthusiasm for Trump has grown, not wavered, over the summer. The Hunter Biden scandal is widely known, even if the facts are still unclear, and that plays to Trump’s advantage. However, I suspect that Biden voters will still turn out to support the Democratic platform and his COVID-19 plans especially. Therefore, I predict a close win for Trump.”
Kirstin Kiledal, chairwoman of rhetoric and public address department:
“President Trump will win; his win will likely be contested unless it is by a very large margin.”
Christopher Busch, professor of English:
“I think Trump will win because I have faith in the American people to make a reasoned decision.”
Logan Washburn, freshman:
“I think that President Trump has a lot of support for his re-election campaign, but many of his supporters refrain from answering polls due to fear of potentially negative consequences of being outed as a Trump supporter. So we can’t really trust the polls, and given recent events, I think that the silent majority is very real and will make a turnout on Election Day. However, I think that due to mail-in ballots, our election is far more susceptible to fraud, and we likely won’t know for sure who won for either days or weeks. And it’s very likely that the Democrats will challenge a Trump victory in some way, shape, or form.”
Duggan Foley, freshman:
“I think Trump will win. If you asked me a couple weeks ago I would have said Biden, however I believe Trump performed well in the last debate. He could have been more aggressive, but overall, he did well. His overcoming COVID-19 was good, and ultimately, the more America sees Joe Biden, the less popular he becomes. They should have kept him in the basement.”
Brooke Hillis, freshman:
“I think it will be Trump because of how the silent majority has been reacting to events in the past year.”
Flanagan Anderson, sophomore:
“I think Trump, but I don’t have a reason. I’m just optimistic.”
Jack Little, sophomore:
“Trump. Looking at early voting data, I don’t think the Democrats are going to have enough turnout to make up the losses they’ll have on Election Day. Plus, you have the riots and civil unrest, along with the Hunter Biden tapes that have come out. I think there’s just a lot leaning towards a similar result to 2016.”
Ryan Carmody, sophomore:
“I’ll go with Trump because last time I looked he was ahead in early voting polls. They’re probably garbage everywhere but they’re literally the only metric. It will be Trump as long as there aren’t a bunch of votes found in Genesee County, Warren County, and all the other counties that are hard-core blue that would need about 90% turnout.”
Luke Turnbow, sophomore:
“Trump, because I’m from California and it’s crazy to see the amount of stuff that’s been going on in Beverly Hills or downtown Los Angeles — there are huge Trump rallies going on. And I think Kamala Harris is too crazy and leftist for a lot of people to get behind. A poll after one of the debates asked people that had no idea who they were going to vote for who they thought they would vote for after this, and many said they didn’t want Harris to be their president so they said Trump.”
Leah Tunney, sophomore:
“I think Trump, because of all of the radical things that the left has been doing all over the country. And there’s also a lot of insider polling that I’ve been hearing about from people who have worked with the Trump administration, and they say that he only has a 1% loss in New York right now, which is insane. With all this stuff going on in Portland, and even with COVID-19, I think people like his policy better right now.”
Marleigh Kerr, sophomore:
“I think Trump will win just because I think everyone is getting caught up in how loudly people on social media are speaking out against him, while the actual majority of people are keeping silent. And I think he’s suppressing Biden’s base, because I know a lot of people who say they won’t vote for him, but can’t bring themselves to vote for Trump, so they’re just not going to vote. If people do that, he’ll win similarly to 2016.”
Jason Cimponer, sophomore:
“Trump.”
Brooke Funke, junior:
“Trump, because he’s the incumbent and the economy is going well.”
Bella Hedrick, junior:
“Trump, because I think he can swing more middle-class votes.”
Carson Nickel, senior:
“Trump. Optimistically hopeful.”
Elli Formentin, senior:
“Trump. I don’t think there’s any way a majority of our country would vote Biden into office.”
Calla Janke, senior:
“Trump is going to win big. Silent majority, baby.”
This predictions poll has been compiled by Allison Schuster and Reagan Gensiejewski.