Dr. Ann Ward and Dr. Sergiy Kudelia Explain the US Election Campaign in their Home Countries
Dr. Ward has provided regular commentary to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) – the leading public broadcaster in Canada. Her most recent commentary addressed the presidential debate between the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump. She believes that there will be a lot of interest in the US campaign in Canada for the reasons of geographic proximity as well as cultural and socio-political similarities. The stakes of this election for Canadians may also be higher than ever because, as Dr. Ward observes, “if America were to become unfree and undemocratic, Canadians would fear this.”
Dr. Kudelia has been similarly offering regular commentary on the US politics to the Ukrainian Service of Voice of America (VOA). He also became a co-host on the new weekly program on US elections launched by the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to be broadcast on YouTube and a prominent Ukrainian television channel. He also notes a great interest in the US election campaign in Ukraine, but for the reasons related to the country’s security: “The US has been the largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine in support of its war against Russian aggression. There is a lot of concern in Ukraine that a change in the White House may lead to a shift in the US policy regarding Russian-Ukrainian war and weaken American support for Ukraine’s war effort.”
Both Dr. Ward and Dr. Kudelia find Canadians and Ukrainians well informed about the general dynamics of the US politics, its main issues and key personalities. The key challenge for Canadians, in Dr. Ward’s view, is understanding the regional differences within the US, particularly the role of the South and their effect on policy preferences across the country: “Despite the similarities between the two countries, Canada has no region like the South, and despite various recent bouts with Quebec referendums on separation, there is no equivalent in Canada to something like slavery (cause of U.S. secession and civil war) and its continuing legacy and impact on American politics.”
For Dr. Kudelia the main difficulty lies in the lack of clear and detailed policy positions of the two presidential candidates, especially in the foreign policy realms. While both Harris and Trump seek to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, their vision of how to achieve it remains ambiguous: “While Trump seems more inclined to push the war to a quick negotiated end, it is unclear how he can compel the two sides to a negotiating table without a major change on the battlefield. Harris, by contrast, pledges continued military assistance to Ukraine, but she avoids discussing how further aid provisions could by themselves help Ukraine prevail in the war.”