Barack Obama

Eight years after Barack Obama’s historic election as the nation’s first African American president, are race relations better or worse in the United States? Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos convened a panel of political experts Tuesday evening to discuss that question, as well as President-elect Donald Trump’s extraordinary ascent to the presidency. Read More

In the final days of Barack Obama’s historic presidency, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will host a panel discussion reflecting on the 44th president’s legacy. “Beyond Obama: Race, Politics and America’s Future” is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17. Read More

Vanderbilt University's Jonathan Metzl, a mental health and mass shootings expert, and Liz Zechmeister, who studies perceptions of political leaders after terrorism, shed light on the Orlando mass shooting. Read More

Vanderbilt Law Professor Paige Marta Skiba is available to speak about payday loans. Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a lawsuit challenging the Obama Administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Vanderbilt University legal expert James Blumstein says the true issue surrounding the King v. Burwell case is separation of powers. Read More

President Obama is set to talk to the nation on Jan. 20 for his State of the Union address. Vanderbilt has an array of experts available to comment. Read More

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit East Tennessee this week to talk about ways to increase college access for Americans. Read More

A Vanderbilt doctoral student in Brazilian history and a staff member with the Center for Latin American Studies had a memorable day as drivers for President Obama's Dec. 9 visit to Nashville. Read More

In light of President Obama’s plan to overhaul the immigration enforcement system and the continued debate over comprehensive immigration reform, Vanderbilt has an array of experts available who are researching various aspects of the immigration debate. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers studied 1,307 appointments made by the Obama administration in its first six months, seeking data about the appointees’ education, work history and political involvement. Read More

The latest Vanderbilt Poll results are in, with registered voters in Tennessee giving their opinions on Medicaid expansion and other issues. Read More

Joshua DuBois, author of The President’s Devotional and a spiritual adviser to President Barack Obama, spoke at Vanderbilt University Divinity School Dec. 4. Read more >>… Read More

They spent a total of $1 billion on TV ads, but most were instantly forgettable—and none swayed opinion. Next time, writes John G. Geer, make the ads memorable. Read More

This Week on VUCast, Vanderbilt’s online newscast: Why one Vandy professor says pawn shops are a better economic move than you realize. Which gives a bigger political punch to undecided voters—the debates or negative ads? Go behind closed “Dores” to see what game day is really like. Read More

Negative advertising may be obligatory in the presidential campaign, but it doesn't seem to be paying off this time around when it comes to changing voter's minds. “It looks like we are way past much bang for the buck with these ads,” said John Geer of Vanderbilt University. Read More

Despite Mitt Romney’s dominant performance in the first presidential debate, President Obama’s favorability rating has been hovering around 50 percent, not enough deterioration to turn the election around for the challenger. Read More

There now is only a small and ever dwindling chance that the remaining undecided voters might influence the outcome of the presidential election, said a Vanderbilt University political scientist. Read More

The video of Mitt Romney dismissing 47 percent of Americans as unreachable by Republicans had little effect on swing voters who will probably decide the Nov. 4 election. Read More

A new attack ad that chides Mitt Romney for refusing to release more of his tax return information is failing to spark much of a reaction. Read More

A new survey from the Vanderbilt University/YouGov Ad Rating Project shows that the latest attack ad aimed at President Obama is not working as well as previous efforts. Read More