The Blade: Pandemic has Trump's Ohio rallies on hold until ...?
UC expert David Niven calls political rallies 'theater' that might be lost during pandemic
Political rallies are the perfect stew of everything health officials have warned against to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Dense crowds. Stuffy indoor venues. Lines too long for social distancing. Plenty of vocalizing.
Calling these rallies “theater,” UC faculty member and political expert David Niven comments in The Blade on how coronavirus will impact political campaigns during election season.
“An awful lot of what goes into a campaign is still going to happen, but the theater part, the part that we see, the noisiest and most exciting part, is going to be missing,” says Niven.
Niven teaches American politics in UC's Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences and conducts research on campaigns, political communication and death penalty policy.
Featured image of Trump at a political rally. Photo/The Blade
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