With the American presidential primaries drawing to a close, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump have pretty much locked up the nominations in their respective parties. However, the Orlando nightclub shooting of June 12 has cast a shadow over the elections. This incident will likely affect poll results, shape the focus of election campaigns, and even influence the polices of the next administration. 

On June 15, 2016, the SIAS invited Shen Xincheng, PhD, from the Georgia Institute of Technology to give a presentation on his observations on this election season.

Based on his experiences in the US, Shen introduced the social and political backgrounds, while illustrating the course of both Clinton’s and Trump’s election campaigns from the start. Shen stressed the importance of the development of technology for the presidential election. He also interpreted how the decline of white Americans and the rise of Millennials have contributed to the dynamics of political campaigns.