PoliSci Faculty Send Ted Cruz ‘Missives’ on His Chances
In the hours and days following the announcement by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas that he would be seeking the U.S. presidential nomination of the Republican Party, media quickly reached out to hear from UCLA’s political scientists. American elections expert Prof. John Zaller, quoted in the New York Times’ “The Upshot” political column (later also cited in Huffington Post), reminded readers that no candidate, failing to win support from his or her party’s “elites,” had ever “won the nomination” of a major party — Sen. Cruz’s Senate seat victory having come in opposition to a favored GOP establishment opponent. Prof. Zaller is a co-author of “The Party Decides,” a much cited research work on U.S. political party nominating processes.
About the same time, Prof. Matt Barreto told Yibada.com (a China-related online news site) that the Latino presidential candidate’s history with the Hispanic vote in his home state paints him as a serious liability with that voter base overall — and not as an asset. Prof. Barreto has been studying the rising Hispanic vote in America for more than a decade, as both professor and professional pollster.
Read Prof. Zaller’s comments to NYT (and Huffpo), here.
Read Prof. Barreto’s input to Yibada, here.
