“This is a very different situation when you think about public opinion. Normally, when the President engages in military action, there is a rally around the flag effect so at least at first the public opinion is pretty supportive of the presidential action,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.
Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington, said public opinion in the U.S. “tends to be pretty isolationist,” and Trump himself campaigned as a critic of “endless wars.”
While presidents sometimes see a short-term spike in approval ratings after the start of military action, “that doesn’t tend to last very long,” Farnsworth said. With the election months away, he said, “there is no way to predict what the world is going to look like in October.”
Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington, said history suggests foreign conflicts can quickly become domestic liabilities.
“The history of an American military engagement in the region has been a pattern of voter backlash when things turn out not to be as simple as presidents say they are,” Farnsworth said.
“This has been an issue that has been defeated but never killed legislatively and it comes back to live another life,” Stephen Farnsworth, political science professor at the University of Mary Washington, told 7News. “The true piece of zombie legislation in Northern Virginia does seem to be the casino project.”
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of Political Science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, is coauthor of a new book, Late-Night in Washington: Political Humor and the American Presidency, recently published by Routledge. This project is Professor Farnsworth’s ninth published book on U.S. politics.
From the publisher: “This book traces the trajectory of late-night political humor, which has long been a staple of entertainment television and is now a prominent part of social media political discourse, especially when it comes to the presidency. From Richard Nixon on Laugh-In to Donald Trump’s avatar on Saturday Night Live, this book takes the next step and considers how late-night comedy treats Joe Biden, the new American president who strives to restore a civil public tone but offers far less comedy fodder than his predecessor. Employing content analysis, public opinion surveys, and a variety of other quantitative and qualitative research, the authors look beyond the day-to-day memes and mimes of late-night comics and show how political humor may evolve. For students and scholars of politics and the media, this book will appeal to the general public and political pundits as well.”
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“Well, it is important to note that any time you do rebuttal to the State of the Union, you’re really talking about a very difficult challenging environment when compared to the joint session of Congress,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington.
