Ron Brownstein, renowned political analyst and journalist, successfully condensed 70 years of American electoral history into an hour-and-a-half-long talk on Tuesday.

In a discussion titled “American Politics, Today and Tomorrow” at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel, Brownstein talked about long-term trends in party politics and how they are affecting the election.

“This election is showing the American people more of the weaknesses of each party, rather than the strengths,” Brownstein said.

Throughout the lecture, he used historical analysis to explain why the competition among parties has steadily increased, the importance of class inversion and the increasing diversity within American society.

From the 1940s through the early 1960s, “you could draw a line through income levels,” given the disparity between social classes, Brownstein said.

During that time period, the blue-collar workers voted Democratic, while the educated and wealthy voted Republican, he said.

But in the late 1960s, the Republican Party made inroads with racial issues, social rights and the importance of state government, attracting many blue-collar, religious, white Americans, Brownstein said.

Then, the Democratic Party gained a strong following of postgraduate Americans who held more liberal and progressive stances on various social and racial issues in the 1970s, he said.

These trends still hold true today, Brownstein said.

Gender and race also play significant roles in one’s political views, he said. Women and minority groups often lean Democratic, and men and white Americans tend to favor Republicans, he said.

Brownstein applied this knowledge to the current trends of today’s election.

The Obama administration, acting on knowledge of voter trends, he said, needs 80 percent of the minority vote and 40 percent of the white vote to win.

Romney on the other hand, Brownstein said, is hoping for 61 percent of the minority vote and 74 percent of the white vote.

“The country is very closely divided,” he said. “It is a starkly polarized environment where neither party has a decisive advantage over the other.”

The difference in numbers shows a distinct difference in demographics.

Republicans, Brownstein said, have been unable to connect with the rising minority population while Democrats cannot “articulate a vision of an activist government that can keep the white community engaged.”

With Brownstein’s research on electoral trends proving drastic change can happen at any time, he leaves the winner of the election with three words of advice: “Don’t unpack everything.”

Corey Goldstone, a senior political science major, said Brownstein’s lecture gave him a clearer understanding of why race plays a huge part in elections.

“Brownstein highlighted race as having a much harsher distinction than other political analysts and journalists would like to admit,” he said. “He gave me a different way to look at the electoral process.”

Toward the very end of the discussion, Brownstein quoted Theodore Roosevelt and said: “We are all Americans. Our common interests are as broad as the continent.”

Brownstein said we need to think this way and not keep pushing issues onto future generations rather than resolve them now, he said.

Remaining unbiased, Brownstein said: “I think whomever is elected has the obligation to try. We need it to happen for the sake of divide.”

Published on October 24, 2012 at 2:10 am

Contact Erin: erkelly@syr.edu