Political science Professor Jacob Smith spoke on the upcoming presidential election on Spectrum News’ “Weekends on 1,” on Saturday, Sept. 21. This is the third time this month that a professor from Fordham University has been invited to speak on Spectrum about the election. Additionally, Fordham professors speak weekly on the news about issues surrounding politics and general news.
With just 44 days until election day, Smith spoke with anchor Robert Vertuccio about some pressing questions surrounding this election season. Smith noted how he felt the gap between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ voter poll in New York was smaller when compared to 2016 and 2020.
“If we look at 2016 and 2020 results, you would expect it [voter poll gap] to be much larger in New York,” said Smith.
Smith spoke on Trump’s visit to New York last week, which he believes could be attributed to several reasons. “He could be here for fundraising, he could be here to stay at his residence in New York and just doing a swing there as well, but there is the possibility of trying to raise the vote share, the Trump vote share, to help in those swing districts,” he said.
On a local level, New York also is torn with its own Gov. Kathy Hochul, who only holds job approval from one-third of voters. “Governor Hochul is unpopular with Republicans, being a Democrat, but is also unpopular with a lot of Democrats, especially on the left, with the decision on delaying congestion pricing,” Smith said.
“I received an email on Thursday asking if I was interested in the interview and agreed to do it,” said Smith when asked about his invitation to share on Spectrum.
While given the option of both online or in-person interviews, Smith chose to complete the interview in-person for a more well-rounded experience. “The taping of the interview went quite quickly and unlike some interviews I do not believe anything was cut from the clip. It was one take and done,” said Smith. While the interview was short, several topics were covered, from the aforementioned election, to Hochul’s approval ratings and even the House of Representatives elections.
“I arrived at 7:45 p.m. at the studio in Chelsea Market and the segment was taped at 8 a.m.. It aired a few times that morning from what I understand before posting online a little after 11 a.m.,” said Smith.
While Smith was confident in the interview and believes it went very well, he does believe one thing in particular could have been done differently. “I made a point about George W. Bush campaigning out in California to try to help GOP House candidates in 2000 possibly costing him the popular vote,” said Smith.
“That is possibly true, as that campaigning did not really seem to help Bush or Republican House candidates in California, but what I meant to say was that it potentially cost Bush the election.”
The 2000 presidential election was one of the tightest in American history, and a professional campaign strategy was paramount for success for either candidate. “[Bush] should have been campaigning in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan or other swing states,” noted Smith. Despite this, Smith enjoyed his time on Spectrum and believed the interview was an informative success.
