SPP Professor Jerry Mayer admits that the media often misrepresent his words. However, this didn’t stop him from agreeing to answer reporters’ questions about the 2004 Presidential election. In the days before and after the election, he was interviewed by dozens of journalists from newspapers, radio and television stations. Mayer, who studies presidential elections, racial politics, political opinion, media and polling, has grown accustomed to the quirks of the press. Before coming to Mason, he taught at the University of Michigan in Kalamazoo, where the small town media considered him a guru of politics. “In the D.C. area there’s a huge outflow of experts. But when you teach out in the boonies, having a Ph.D. is enough to get on T.V.,” he says. After so much experience dealing with desperate journalists, Mayer, whose recent media blitz included three appearances on WUSA Channel 9 News, understands why many of his colleagues steer away from the spotlight. “Academics see things complexly and the media’s attempts to simplify can be very annoying,” he explains.

Professor Jerry Mayer is a policy expert in presidential elections, racial politics, political opinion, media and polling. Hear Professor Mayer's interview with SPP Currents Editor Stephanie Kriner (4:35 Minutes)

Mayer also has learned to use the media to talk about what is troubling him in the world of politics. For example, before his interview on Channel 9 News, he told Roane that he wanted to talk about the long lines to vote in Ohio. She complied.

In general, the benefits of media interviews outweigh the sacrifices, Mayer says. “I really think it helps the University. The more professors from George Mason are looked at as experts for the media, the more often the George Mason name will be heard.”

Media interviews also give Mayer an opportunity to flaunt his expertise, and his analyses are often right. In 1998, he predicted on a CBS affiliate in Michigan that Newt Gingrich would be forced to resign after the Republican midterm losses. In 2000, he wrote a column for the Detroit News, predicting a close election and possible fraud. “Watch Florida,” he wrote on the eve of the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

This year, though, Mayer did not get it right. Although he was careful not to reveal his predictions during interviews, Mayer expected Kerry to win. In media interviews afterwards, he conceded that he had underestimated the President’s appeal to values. “I didn’t imagine an election where a guy who got out of Vietnam through family connections would end up looking more heroic than a guy who served, and that’s the way it turned out,” he says.