Alex Theodoridis, Associate Professor of Political Science is quoted in a New York Times Op-Ed analyzing the prospects for President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party in the 2022 midterm elections. He is pessimistic about Democratic prospects but acknowledges some positive signs for Biden and Democrats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Theodoridis says that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “is an awkward one for GOP elites and voters. They have spent the last few years downplaying the nefariousness of Putin’s regime and portraying Ukraine as a hopelessly corrupt hotbed of profiteering for the Biden family…UMass Poll data from 2020 and 2021 show that Republicans, on average, rate Democrats, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and even people who vote for Democrats, as greater threats to America than Vladimir Putin and Russia. In the weeks before the invasion, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, among others, peddled takes flattering to Putin. This stance has grown uncomfortable as Russia and Putin have clearly played the role of unprovoked aggressor and Ukrainians and Zelensky emerge as both sympathetic and heroic.” All that being said, Theodoridis does not view recent events as game changers for the Democratic Party and predicts that the midterm elections will likely follow the historical pattern of midterm loss for the president's party. (New York Times, 3/9/22).