About 100 University of Michigan students and faculty gathered at the Institute for Social Research to attend a lecture by Prof. James L. Gibson from Washington University in St. Louis Thursday evening. The lecture was part of the Miller-Converse series, which focuses on American electoral politics and honors the legacy of Warren Miller, Center for Political Studies founder, and Philip Converse, former CPS and ISR director. In his lecture, Gibson discussed the impact of former President Donald Trump and his supporters’ actions on American political institutions.
Ken Kollman, U-M political science professor, began the event by acknowledging the work of Miller and Converse. Kollman then introduced Gibson to the audience.
Gibson began his talk by introducing the question motivating his research: Did the actions of Trump, Republicans and MAGA supporters weaken American democracy?
Gibson said the public’s perception of Trump’s threats to political institutions was important in gathering data. He said the culmination of Trump’s denial of the 2020 election results, subsequent riots and violence at the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021 and the former president’s refusal to comply with civil investigations were poignant in his study.
By gathering data from four national surveys — a pre-election national representative survey in July 2020, a post-election representative survey from December 2020 through January 2021, a post-insurrection representative survey from February 2021 to March 2021 and a panel survey of Black respondents in June 2021 — Gibson found evidence that Trump, Republicans and MAGA supporters were unable to inflict any significant damage on the legitimacy of American political institutions.
“So, the conclusions I draw … on all three institutions are (there is) no evidence of decline, and perhaps some limited evidence of increase,” Gibson said. “But the conclusion is that institutions are resilient. That’s what makes them institutions.”
Gibson concluded his lecture by emphasizing that threats to democracy are essential for the system’s vitality.
“It’s true that democracies from time to time need threats in order to mobilize citizens to fully appreciate the value of democracy,” Gibson said.
After Gibson concluded his lecture, ISR moderated a Q&A session with U-M students and faculty. Attendees asked questions regarding Gibson’s research limitations, such as alternative ways democracy can be damaged beyond his research and how his findings vary among demographics.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily after the event, LSA junior Mary Vu said she agreed with Gibson‘s claim that Trump’s threats to American political systems did not damage democracy.
“I think it reaffirms that the insurrection didn’t have a significant impact,” Vu said. “I think it shocked the nation … but it doesn’t really change the way the institutions operate.”
LSA freshman Sam Knot told The Daily that Gibson’s findings were not the conclusions he expected.
“He himself admitted that he was surprised by results that Trump didn’t actually do lasting damage to the institutions,” said Knot. “I guess I was surprised to hear that somebody of his caliber (was) arguing that side of things.”
Daily Staff Reporter Andrew Baum can be reached at asbaum@umich.edu.