Parallels Between Current and Past Presidential Elections

Allan Lichtman, Distinguished Professor of History, College of Arts and Sciences, American University

John S. Jackson, Visiting Professor, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University

Host: Craig Cohen

It's a natural tendency, each Presidential election year, to compare how the campaign is playing out to what happened during previous elections. How is 2012 like 2008? 2004? While every election brings its own issues, and conditions, and the electorate itself changes, there may well be some lessons to be learned from recent history, that can tell us why this year’s campaign is playing out as it is. We’ll explore parallels between the 2012 Presidential election and elections from the past 50+ years.