WashU Experts

Striking racial divides in the 2016 election serve as a reminder that racially charged narratives still have a powerful hold on the American mindset. If the left is to compete in future elections, it must learn to tell competing narratives that build coalitions around racial justice, says political scholar Clarissa Hayward.

If a Trump administration follows his campaign rhetoric and advisers, then his most immediate and far-reaching environmental target will be domestic and international efforts to address climate change. Maxine Lipeles, director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at the Washington University School of Law, offers her thoughts on Trump’s expected policies toward the environment.

Donald Trump’s surprising success with Mormon, Catholic and evangelical Christian voters can best be explained by the deep distrust that these groups have for Hillary Clinton, suggests R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

If adults are feeling anxious, depressed or angry about the presidential election results, their children might be feeling the same. Joan Luby, MD, the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, offers advice to parents on what they can say to their children who are expressing anxiety or sadness.

It is our duty as social workers and public health professionals to advocate for the use of science and empirical data to guide future policy initiatives and legislation to improve the well-being of all, said Mary McKay, dean of the Brown School.

Donald Trump’s election has shocked many. But for Adia Harvey Wingfield, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences, the candidate’s rhetoric has been all too familiar.

Jeffrey McCune, associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Washington University in St. Louis, argues that Trump voters understood exactly the candidate they were getting.

For the second time in less than 20 years, the winner of the presidential popular vote has lost the electoral college. Once is a fluke, twice is a trend, said Greg Magarian, professor of law and expert on election law.

During his campaign, President-elect Trump publicly stated that he would cut back the Environmental Protection Agency and also vowed to eliminate other federal regulations in place to protect the environment. Brent Williams, the Raymond R. Tucker Distinguished I-CARES Career Development Associate Professor, shares his views on what would happen should those changes take effect.

For political prognosticators, the 2016 presidential campaign has emerged as the most egregious “wrong call” since incumbent president Harry S. Truman defeated New York governor Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. But another interesting comparison can be found in the 1936 contest between incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt and Kansas governor Alf Landon, says presidential historian Peter Kastor.