The upcoming presidential elections in the US are a historic event because they mark the end of a certain era, the director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yuri Rogulyov, and Professor of the Politics and International Relations Department of the University of Leicester, Dr Tara McCormack, said at the Moscow - London video conference titled 'The US presidential race: expectations and projections'.
"These elections show the end of a certain period. We are witnessing a personification of politics, its privatization. Politics becomes a lot of individuals rather than parties, which, in turn, ‘become blurred’ [lose influence]," the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza cited the Russian expert as saying.
"These elections are historic not only because one of the candidates is a woman. They are important because they mark a complete end of the political order, which was established after World War II. The whole era is ending. It is necessary to build a new system on new foundations," Tara McCormack said.
Today it became known that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have reinforced their leadership in the fight for the US presidential nominee status, by winning primaries in several states.
The experts agreed that now it is difficult to assess who - Clinton or at Trump - has more chances to win.
"There have been many surveys conducted in the US. According to their results, Bernie Sanders would have won if he ran against Donald Trump, but it is hard to predict the winner in the Clinton-Trump standoff. At the same time, Sanders has no chance to become the Democratic nominee," McCormack said.
According to McCormack, the U.S. public opinion does not favor Hillary Clinton much.. "In general, Trump and Clinton are the most unpopular candidates who have ever run," the Professor of the Politics and International Relations Department of the University of Leicester noted.
Yuri Rogulev agreed that it's not easy to assess chances of candidates now. "Clinton has equal levels of support and rejection. But I agree that both of them are unpopular. American voter does not see Clinton as unconditional candidate. At the same time Sanders has little chances of becoming a candidate," he noted.
But Donald Trump secured advantages among possible Republican candidates in advance. "But not all the Republicans support him. McCain continues his campaign against Trump. Republicans don't have an unconditional leader like, for example, Obama," the Russian expert predicts.
Tara McCormack also believes that "both Trump and Sanders secured superiority despite the anger of American voters. They mark the end of a political order that has existed for many years. Trump's victory would be very costly for the Republicans," she explained.
Another factor which can cause reluctance among voters to support Trump is his lack of a clear predictable program. In fact, so far he has used scandalous statements to attract voters. I would not take his statements of those period seriously. He is no fool and will listen his party's advises, because it will be difficult for him to win without its support," the director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University believes.
"Clinton is much more predictable. She is a representative of the right wing. She just need to make a certain number of steps to the left to preserve the electorate of Sanders. In addition, she stated bluntly that she would continue the Obama administration's policy," the Russian expert reminded, stressing that the problem of Democrats is the lack of a clear platform.
Speaking about the position of the potential candidates on foreign policy, the American expert said that Donald Trump is the only person who understands foreign policy," she said.
Yuri Rogulev also appreciated Trump's foreign policy position in terms of cautious optimism. "I would not consider Trump's foreign policy statements as radical. The NATO issue was raised by him as a businessman," the director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University said.
"Of course, Russia, like any country, will have to deal with a president elected by the Americans," he concluded.
