LEWISTON — If you’re finding it difficult to make sense of this month’s election results, you’re not alone.

Two Bates College professors speaking at Thursday’s Great Falls Forum at the Lewiston Public Library are in the same boat.

John Baughman, a politics professor, called it “a confounding election to interpret.”

The results offered “mixed signals,” said Michael Sargent, a social and political psychologist.

Bates College Associate Professor of Politics John Baughman speaks Thursday afternoon during the Great Falls Forum at the Lewiston Public Library. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

On the presidential level, Baughman said, Republican Donald Trump’s margin of victory was “not that close” in terms of the Electoral College because he won every swing state. But, he said, Trump didn’t win them by much.

“It looks very much like a status quo election,” Baughman said, yet Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris will have “potentially very large effects” as a new administration takes office in January.

The races for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, state positions and a bunch of ballot questions around the country didn’t indicate any groundswell of support for Trump’s party or agenda, the professors said.

Baughman said it’s interesting to note that in every major democratic country that held an election this year, the incumbent party lost.

“The U.S. is far from alone on this,” he said.

It didn’t matter whether the party in power was conservative or liberal. People were just eager for change to a degree never seen since records have been kept since 1905, Baughman said.

He said it probably had something to do with lingering economic pain brought on by the pandemic that hit in 2020, especially the inflation it spurred worldwide.

Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline, right, takes a photo Thursday of Bates College Associate Professor of Politics John Baughman, left, and Bates College Associate Professor of Psychology Michael Sargent prior to the start of the Great Falls Forum at the Lewiston Public Library. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The initial data from exit polls, he said, indicate a small shift toward Trump among many groups of voters, including “a little bit of a class shift from Democrats to Republicans.”

In general, Baughman said, Harris did better among voters who follow news about politics and Trump cleaned up among voters who didn’t pay much attention.

“Harris ran an unusually effective campaign,” Baughman said. “She was actually a pretty strong candidate.”

Voters, though, wanted a change.

State Rep. Margaret Craven, one of two dozen people to attend in-person, asked why voters disregarded the ethical and criminal issues surrounding Trump. She asked why they voted against their own interests.

Baughman said it’s a challenge for anyone to define the interests of others.

In the end, he added, “Sometimes voters are pretty simple” and just “don’t like what’s happening” and their votes register that dissatisfaction.

He said Trump may find it hard to get things done with such a slim majority in the U.S. House.

Democrats may not have any short-term problems to address, Baughman said, but they have to figure out “a way to win consistently” in Sun Belt states where the population is growing faster than it is in New England, the Midwest and the West Coast.

The party “has to be less reliant on the old Rust Belt states” before the 2032 presidential election when Southern states will have even more electoral votes.

Great Falls Forum programs, which are free, generally take place during the lunch hour on Thursdays in the library’s Callahan Hall.

Its next session is slated for noon Thursday, Dec. 19. It will feature Maine State Librarian Lori Fisher.

The longstanding speaker series is cosponsored by Bates, the library and the Sun Journal.

Bates College Associate Professor of Politics John Baughman, left, looks Thursday afternoon at Bates College Associate Professor of Psychology Michael Sargent as he speaks during the Great Falls Forum at the Lewiston Public Library. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal