The 2020 presidential election has provided Americans with one of the wildest political roller-coaster rides in 20 years. Predicted to be a blowout, a winner wasn’t announced until four days after Election Day as Americans waited for the votes to be counted. Even now, contestants on both sides anticipate a court battle before the results are finalized. At this year's annual conference, the Baker Institute’s Presidential Elections Program hosted political experts from around the country to examine the lead-up to the elections and the ramifications of the aftermath during a three-day program.
On the first day of the conference, experts explored why the polls were off in their predictions and how COVID-19 has impacted different aspects of the election process.
For more details, please see the agenda below. To view information for the other two days, please click here.
This event was sponsored by the Presidential Elections Program. Follow @BakerInstitute on Twitter, and join the conversation online with #BakerElections.
Panel I
Panel II
Agenda — Day 1
11:00 am
Welcome
11:05 am
Panel I: What Happened with the Polls in 2020?
Moderated by: Mark P. Jones, Ph.D., Co-Director, Presidential Elections Program; Political Science Fellow, Baker Institute for Public Policy
Lonna Atkeson, Ph.D.
Professor and Regent’s Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of New Mexico; Director, Center for the Study of Voting, Elections, and Democracy; Director, Institute of Social Research, University of New Mexico
Kenneth Goldstein, Ph.D.
Professor of Politics, University of San Francisco; Faculty Director, USF in DC program
Daron Shaw, Ph.D.
Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin; Co-Director, Fox News Poll and the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll; Director, Texas Lyceum Poll
12:30 pm
Panel II — COVID-19 and the 2020 Election Process
Moderated by: The Honorable Jason Villalba, Chairman, Board of Directors and President, Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation; Financial Lawyer, Foley & Lardner LLP; Former Member of the Texas House of Representatives, Dallas County’s Texas House District 114
Zac Moffatt
CEO, Targeted Victory; Digital Director, Mitt Romney's campaign for President
Chuck Rocha
President and Founder, Solidarity Strategies; Senior Advisor, Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign
Mindy Romero, Ph.D.
Founder and Director, Center for Inclusive Democracy, University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy
1:45 pm
