As we approach the 59th quadrennial race for the Presidency, the country is mired in division. An immobilized Congress, combined with a President who remains highly controversial, has left much of the body politic exhausted and wavering between disgust and confusion as many of the norms of conventional politics have been abandoned.

This is the latest in a series of courses on contemporary national elections dating back to the Fall of 2015. We will spend some time reviewing the relevant history and then turn our attention to what is unfolding so that we may handicap the 2020 race.

The Democrats have a host of declared candidates, and there appears to be at least one potential challenger to the President from his own party. We will survey the field to determine who might remain and why. How likely is it that the elections will be subject to foreign interference? Will this be the first billion-dollar election and what impact would that have? What role will social media play? Given a revised primary schedule, will the results be clear almost before they begin? What key issues will emerge, or will this simply be a personality contest and a referendum on the President?

Participants in the 2015 class discussed a “cataclysmic conclusion” to the 2016 election, and we have been on a roller coaster ever since. How might we describe the possible results for this monumental event which will occur in November of 2020?