How the First Presidential Debate Could Affect Long Island Politics
Tonight's presidential debate could cause more than a traffic jam on Long Island.
Dr. Craig Burnett is an assistant professor of Political Science at Hosftra University. And he says, how people feel about the presidential election can have a major impact on local races.
"So if, say for example, you have a candidate who is probably going to not inspire maybe your marginal member of one party or another to turn out to vote on election day, that means they're not gonna show up to the polls and say, 'Oh yeah! There's a lot more offices I need to vote for. Let me go ahead and cast my ballot for the guys who play for the team that I generally support," he says.
Burnett says if a couple percentage points of people do that, it could change the outcome of lower races. And with key state legislative seats up for grabs on Long Island, some local party officials are afraid of just that.
Frank Ammendolea is the president of the Franklin Square Republicans. That's a town about 4 miles from Hofstra. Ammendolea says he's worried Trump's performance at the debate will throw a wild card into some local races.
"If he performs well, or better than expected on Long Island, we could win a lot of those seats. If he underperforms, or get's blown out, we're going to lose, potentially, some seats," he says.
The presidential debate starts at 9 o'clock eastern time.
