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Full-Text Articles in American Politics
Voting At Umaine: An Empirical Study Of Student Turnout Trends And Motivations, Abigail Despres
Voting At Umaine: An Empirical Study Of Student Turnout Trends And Motivations, Abigail Despres
Honors College
Thomas et al. (2016) estimates that around 10 million currently enrolled college students did not vote in the 2016 presidential election. Unfortunately, this statistic is representative of a national downward trend in youth voter turnout rates where those in the youngest (and largest) voter age bracket are turning out at the lowest rate compared to any other bracket. Previous research on this phenomenon has focused on procedural and institutional barriers like registration, residency requirements, and voter ID laws to describe what physically stands between a prospective young voter and the ballot box. This research looks to study that issue from …
Domestic And Foreign Policy Priorities Of Maine Voters, Caitlyn Rooms
Domestic And Foreign Policy Priorities Of Maine Voters, Caitlyn Rooms
Honors College
Understanding the political priorities of a population is key to unravelling the ways that people engage in local, state, and national politics. National polling organizations do studies in every election cycle on the domestic priorities of national voters, and every few years on the foreign policy priorities of the American public. These polls help academics and policymakers understand the motivations of the American populace and help to guide the public narrative surrounding contentious issues. Polls like this are, however, rare at the state level. This study aims to fill that gap for the state of Maine, providing state-level data on …
Political Polarization And The Dissemination Of Misinformation: The United States Pandemic Response As A Cautionary Tale, Mary Giglio
Honors College
This thesis discusses the failings of theUnited States response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it has been shaped by the nation’s intense political polarization and the widespread dissemination of misinformation. In this thesis, I critically examine the government’s initial response to the pandemic, including its lack of preparedness and the ineffectiveness of its eventual policies. I also attempt to explain the influence of political polarization on the states, resulting in congressional gridlock, as well as wildly varying policies regarding lockdowns and mask mandates. I connect the increasing prevalence of misinformation today to the historically recent rise of postmodernism, a …