Protester Chelsea Byers, right, of Los Angeles, pretends to use money to wipe sweat from the brow of a giant Donald Trump head worn by Alice Newberry of Washington State. They are joined by Rebecca Green, left, of Cleveland. The women, members of “Code Pink,” marched with other protesters through Public Square in Cleveland on Monday, July 18, 2016 during the Republican National Convention. Photo by Antonella Crescimbeni, Penn State
Christopher Beem, managing director of Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy, was quoted recently in an Irish Examiner article about the Presidential Election. Here’s an excerpt:
“Penn State University sits right in the rural middle of the state, its vast main campus forming the bulk of the appropriately named town of State College in the appropriately named Centre County.
Christopher Beem
“Elections don’t come much tighter than in Centre County. While Pennsylvania voted Obama in 2012, by a narrow majority of 52%, Centre County voted Romney, giving him 49% of the vote compared to Obama’s 48.9%. There were just 20 votes in the difference.
“Penn State’s student body of more than 47,000 tend towards the Democrats – and the official college Republican group did not endorse Trump – but it’s expected to be a tight race on campus too.
“Christopher Beem reckons the students – particularly those in the political science department – should be having a blast, getting a kick out of the rivalry, enjoying coming up with the best retaliatory arguments, feeding off the energy of what has been a remarkable campaign and what for most of them will be their first time voting in a presidential election.
“Instead they’re exhibiting a kind of bewilderment at the ‘hyperpartisanship’ that has characterised the campaign and how bizarre, bitter, unproductive and uninspiring it has been.
“ ‘They are shocked and dismayed and frustrated. They keep coming up to me and saying, is this what it’s always like? And I’m saying no, it’s really not, it’s usually kind of fun.'”
Read more at IrishExaminer.com.