As part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of political science Robert Booth Fowler spoke Sunday about Wisconsin voting trends that may affect the approaching election.
Fowler spoke at Memorial Union about Wisconsin's voting history from 1848 to 2006 - o - othe same topic as his recent book, Wisconsin Votes: An Electoral History."" He also took questions regarding the current presidential election.
According to Fowler, Madison has been a democratic city since the beginning of its history.
""The closer places are to Dane County the more democratic they are,"" he said.
According to Fowler, there will not be a dramatic shift in 2008 in the Wisconsin electorate. He said it will follow familiar patterns but the democrats will do a little bit better than in previous years.
Political change is generational and right now there is a convenient economic crisis for the democrats, he said.
""Obama's margin is based on a financial crisis,"" said Fowler.
Within this generation those who are educated and have higher income are going to be in the future, by a considerable margin, liberal democrats, according to Fowler.
""If the Obama administration is relatively successful it will make a huge difference in terms of national politics in years to come,"" Fowler said.
Fowler predicted Obama will carry Wisconsin and become the next president of the United States.
""The polls are quite clear that Obama will carry Wisconsin,"" he said.
Fowler said the uninformed and undecided population decides elections, adding political advertisements reach out to those uninformed voters.
According to Fowler, Wisconsin is traditionally a toss-up state but is becoming increasingly democratic due to the growing amount of democrats it elects to office.
Fowler said Republicans and democrats are fighting over the support of the middle class in this election.
""[This election] is a struggle for the middle class,"" he said.
Vice presidential candidates matter very little, and Palin is serving as an effort to rally conservatives, according to Fowler.
