City Club of Eugene: Oregon Electorate: Who Will Vote and Why It Matters

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Recorded On: April 27, 2018

Air Date: April 30, 2018

Dr. Melody Rose, Political Scientist and President of Marylhurst University is a specialist in American elections. She discuses what recent elections tell us about the future of Oregon’s unpredictable voters. Which voters will prove critical in our upcoming races, and what do trends in other states tell us about how Oregonians may vote? 2016 was a year of electoral upset. Incumbents lost, underdogs won, and polls failed to predict outcomes accurately. Dr. Rose sets changing demographics and political loyalties within the context of “political realignment,” arguing that a massive political shift is changing the party system and provoking political change in ways unseen in over a generation.

Speaker Biography:

Dr. Melody Rose is the 15th president of Marylhurst University and a nationally recognized scholar of women and politics. She has served as chancellor of the Oregon university system and in many different roles at Portland State University, culminating in her service as Vice Provost for Academic Programs & Instruction and Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

First Questioner:

Becky Gladstone, the League of Women Voters of Oregon Governance Coordinator.

Copyright KLCC, 2018

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Love Cross joined KLCC in 2017. She began her public radio career as a graduate student, serving as Morning Edition Host for Boise State Public Radio in the late 1990s. She earned her undergraduate degree in Rhetoric and Communication from University of California at Davis, and her Master’s Degree from Boise State University. In addition to her work in public radio, Love teaches college-level courses in Communication and Sociology.
Barbara Dellenback returned to KLCC in December 2017 after pursuing other radio gigs and fundraising for community benefit organizations. She's host of the KLCC podcast The Oregon Grapevine. You can hear her on the radio hosting Weekend Edition, Morning Edition, and All Things Considered.