Jacob Neiheisel Offers Insight on Voter ID and Trump Citizenship Threat
Newsweek quoted Jacob Neiheisel, associate professor of political science, in a story about the conventional political wisdom that voter restrictions harm the Democratic Party in elections. Neiheisel was also quoted by HuffPost in an article about President Donald Trump’s threat to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship.
The Newsweek article examines whether voter restrictions—like voter ID laws—actually harm Democrats, a long-held assumption in U.S. politics. Jacob Neiheisel highlighted the impact of such restrictions on elections. Neiheisel noted there's "very little evidence" that voter ID laws reduce turnout overall, adding that shifting voter coalitions could change how these laws affect party outcomes.
The article complements his point by presenting new data from the 2024 election suggesting that even if all eligible voters had cast ballots, Donald Trump still would have beaten Kamala Harris—challenging the belief that higher turnout favors Democrats.
In a HuffPost article, President Trump threatened to revoke Rosie O'Donnell’s U.S. citizenship after she criticized him online. Neiheisel called the threat “concerning on a number of levels,” warning that Trump appears willing to use state power for personal revenge. “Lost in the mix is any sense of the public good,” he said, adding that it’s important not to normalize such statements in political life.
