WMU political science professors field election calls from far and wide

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—With Election Day approaching, Western Michigan University political science professors have been busy fielding calls both locally and from other parts of the world from media outlets interested in their perspectives on the presidential race.

Dr. Jim Butterfield was on television in Vietnam, while Dr. Mahendra Lawoti, who is from Nepal, was interviewed by Nepali media. Professors will be especially busy providing comment for local news media on election night. Dr. John Clark is doing election night analysis for Channel 3, while Dr. Peter Wielhouwer will do live analysis in the FOX17 studio on election night. Clark also has been interviewed via email about the election by the Singapore Straits Times.

All of that comes in addition to the many interviews the department's faculty members will be doing on radio stations WKZO, WBCK and WMUK both before and after the election, with Clark and Wielhouwer being the resident experts on election politics.

Nothing unusual

All the interest, both worldwide and locally, might sound somewhat unusual. But Clark, department chair, says it's all pretty much par for the course around Election Day.

"I think for me, at least, it's fairly typical," Clark says, "and I suspect that's true for Pete as well. People often say to us this must be an exciting time to be a political scientist. And I think, 'Man, there's always something going on in American politics.' But what makes election season different is that other people are interested, too. The rest of the year, we're interested, but when an election's coming up, then that means other people probably are as well. And I do certainly get the sense of more people being interested earlier in the year than is often the case for a general election.

What has changed somewhat, Clark says, is where media interest is coming from. Calls from newspapers, due to the shrinking of the industry, have declined. But Clark and company still get lots of calls from radio and television.

"There is some variation between this election year and other years," Clark says, "but it has less to do with the election and more to do with the nature of the media."

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.