Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Town Hall Drama: What's All The Gossip About?, Mckay Randall

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

When the new Congress took their seats at the beginning of 2017, Republicans were on a mission to replace Obamacare. To gear up for the legislative struggle, legislators took to the streets and towns of their districts to speak to constituents about Obamacare and other policies. During the first town halls in January and February, Republican legislators found themselves confronted with rowdy and raucous crowds who nearly shouted them down every time they had chance to speak. The News took note of this phenomena in late February and started reporting on the story. The popular headlines from The Washington Post, …

Has Party Identification Changed In Utah?, Devin Johanson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Three weeks before the 2016 election, Utah was labeled as a swing state by most main-stream media outlets. The offensive rhetoric from both the Trump and Clinton campaigns and the rise of a popular independent candidate increased the potential for changes in the party identity of the Utah electorate. My research question is as follows: How has party identification changed in the state of Utah between the 2012 and 2016 elections?

Do Municipal Officials Represent The Views Of Their Constituents?, Steven Jamieson

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Municipalities make decisions that effect millions of Americans every day. Research has been done to assess the link between citizen’s preferences and municipal policy (Tausanovitchand Warshaw2014). However, the link between the policies and the officials who make them is missing.

Policy Reforms Amidst Corruption: Ukrainian Attitudes Toward Economic Development, Eliza Riley

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This research examines what economic policies Ukrainians think should—and could– work in Ukraine to reform the economic system and combat widespread corruption. This study tests how region specific determinants and corruption perception levels influence attitudes toward democracy and optimism toward future reform possibilities in Ukraine.

Does Ideology Trump Party Loyalty, Soren J. Schmidt

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Party affiliation and political ideology are typically paired together. It’s consequently difficult to disentangle their individual impact on vote choice. Utah’s 2016 election presented a rare exception to this trend with non-conservative Republican nominee (Donald Trump) and conservative independent candidate (Evan McMullin). Do voters prioritize party loyalty or personal ideology when casting a ballot? What are other predictors of party defection?

Scourge On American Society: Are Refugees Increasing Violent Crime In The United States?, Rehtaeh Beers

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

President Trump and many citizens in his wake have called for a decrease in the number of refugees in America. Many claim that refugees are a “Scourge on American Society” and that refugees are “dangerous” and likely to commit violent crimes.

The total number of reported refugees in the world has been growing at an alarming rate since 2006 following the the Lebanese Crisis. Despite the growing number of refugees, the United States of America has kept the number of refugees located in the states relatively stable since 2007.

Let's Play A Game: A Game Theoretical Analysis Of Conservative Voting In The 2016 Presidential Election In Utah, Devon Tenney

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study is intended to look at strategic voting behavior among conservatives in the state of Utah in the 2016 Presidential Election. This particular election is important and quite unique in that a third party, conservative candidate competed with the Republican candidate for victory in the state. With a viable third-party candidate to consider, conservative voters had a much more complex choice to make than they usually do in an election. We will model this choice and its outcomes to explain why the vote came out the way it did.

Speaking Of Gender, Generally: Analysis Of Gendered References And Speaking Opportunities In Lds General Conferences, Devon Tenney

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study seeks to examine the changing role of women in LDS General Conferences. Through text analysis and an exploration of speaking opportunities at General Conference, we find that women have been discussed more frequently and provided more opportunities to speak over time.