With Trump likely to be on the ballot again, a burning mystery looms: What drives white working-class voters to support Trump? Can it all be chalked up to racism? University of Pennsylvania political scientist William Marble will present his brand new analysis of the role that racial resentment and other cultural and economic concerns played in white working-class vote choice in past elections.

Understanding what drives vote choice is crucial as we head into an election year. We hope you can attend this special briefing and draw your own takeaways for reaching out to rural swing voters.

William Marble is a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Program for Opinion Research and Election Studies and an Elections Analyst at the NBC News Decision Desk. His research explores how political geography, the economy, and social arrangements influence electoral coalitions and public opinion, and he develops statistical methods to improve our understanding of public opinion. His work has been published in leading political science journals and covered by news outlets including the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Economist. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University and previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University.