Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

American Politics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 37

Full-Text Articles in American Politics

Framing Of Latinx Vote Choice And Voter Registration, Laurel E. Bennett Oct 2022

Framing Of Latinx Vote Choice And Voter Registration, Laurel E. Bennett

Student Publications

This work investigates media framing done by CNN between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Although Latinx voters remain underrepresented and under researched, they have the ability to highly influence elections. Specifically, CNN uses the sleeping giant frame, the need for Latinx voter registration as a frame, and the importance of Latinx voter mobilization as a frame in the 2020 presidential election more prominently than in the 2016 presidential election upon consideration of Latinx vote choice and voter turnout.


Political Trust: Nature Or Nurture, Kahlan R. Canty Oct 2022

Political Trust: Nature Or Nurture, Kahlan R. Canty

Student Publications

This paper looked into the relationship between political trust, demographics (race and gender), and presidential election votes for 2012 and 2016. The purpose of this research was to see the baseline feelings of political trust in different demographics, as well as how those feelings of political trust changed depending on if they voted for in the winning candidate in the presidential election. Preliminary research has already been conducted on both of these topics; however, in this paper I sought to examine if an individual's race or gender affected the extent of a person's loss or gain in political trust when …


How Do You Vote? Breaking Down Party Identification By Racial Resentment, Stellarose B. Emery Oct 2022

How Do You Vote? Breaking Down Party Identification By Racial Resentment, Stellarose B. Emery

Student Publications

Racial resentment has long existed in the United States, with the idea that Black people receive unfair advantages by exploiting their race thus negatively affecting White people. In a time in which politics is drastically polarized, a focus is put onto an individual's political identity. The purpose of this research is to determine under what conditions does race influence vote choice by examining how racial bias influences political affiliation. Using data from the 2012 and 2016 National Election Study, the results revealed that ideological thoughts do have an impact on a person’s political party identity as individuals with a higher …


Media Framing And The Election Integrity Protection Act Of 2021, Timothy Fay Oct 2021

Media Framing And The Election Integrity Protection Act Of 2021, Timothy Fay

Student Publications

It is no secret that today's media landscape is saturated with various narratives and frames that dictate how political events and debates are consumer by the American public. This paper seeks to analyze how national and local media outlets frame the Election Integrity Protection Act of 2021, one of the numerous voting bills that followed the 2020 Election. My expectation is that these sources will vary in terms of their partisan skew as a result of their geographic location and the ideologies of their viewers. This qualitative media analysis focuses on how each publication does or does not align one …


A Study Of Groupthink And Multiple Advocacy In Presidential Foreign Policy Fiascos, Ethan S. Wilt Apr 2021

A Study Of Groupthink And Multiple Advocacy In Presidential Foreign Policy Fiascos, Ethan S. Wilt

Student Publications

As “the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations,” Presidents have almost exclusively presided over foreign policy. Modern Presidents, spanning from Eisenhower, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, and Reagan, have readily encountered foreign policy crises, with varying degrees of success. Why do some President fail while others triumph? It comes down to an assortment of factors: organizational structure, multiple advocacy, and groupthink. Organizational structure affects how information is disseminated and decisions are made. Multiple advocacy brings out all important interests during deliberations. Groupthink paralyzes deliberations by causing conformity, cohesion, and replaces critical thinking with irrationality. These frameworks …


Feminism, Religion, And Work In The United States, Margaret R. Halpin Oct 2020

Feminism, Religion, And Work In The United States, Margaret R. Halpin

Student Publications

Feminism in the contemporary United States is a diverse field of thought with several strains of ideological leanings, including liberal, neoliberal, and the contested conservative feminism. Each is uniquely situated in the American context due to the heavy influence of American values and culture-specific definitions of justice, success, and progress. Entrenched in the Western conceptions of secularism and advancement, “modern” feminism in the United States prides itself as the example of peak progressivism, yet does so without critically engaging with its definition of modernity or secularism. In particular, the relationship between religion and feminism is complicated in the U.S., with …


For Life Or Choice: Abortion Views In America, Alyssa C. Ritchie Oct 2020

For Life Or Choice: Abortion Views In America, Alyssa C. Ritchie

Student Publications

Abortion is one of the most controversial political topics in the United States of America at any point in time. In an election year, it is even more so. Countless Americans choose who to vote for based on whether or not the politician is pro-life or pro-choice. But why do some Americans vote pro-choice or pro-life? What variables affect their beliefs on abortion and how strong are those variables in relation to others? This paper dives into the ways in which education and religion affect abortion opinions and researches the strength of those variables in relation to one another. In …


Boroughs And The Badge: Local Contexts And Confidence In Police, Henry F. Goodson Oct 2020

Boroughs And The Badge: Local Contexts And Confidence In Police, Henry F. Goodson

Student Publications

As citizens interact with the police more than most civil servants, increasing the citizenry’s confidence in police is key to helping maintain rule of law and internal stability within a state. One of the key areas to be investigated in the pursuit of better police-community relations is on the impact of public services and housing on police legitimacy. Historically, American cities have been widely segregated based on race and income, especially in urban areas, which in turn alters the services available in those areas. The public services and the neighborhoods in which they are delivered are key parts of many …


Along Ideological Lines: Examining Support For Black Lives Matter, Caden E. Giordano Oct 2020

Along Ideological Lines: Examining Support For Black Lives Matter, Caden E. Giordano

Student Publications

In this paper, support for the Black Lives Matter is examined through different identity frames: feminism, support for the LGBTQ+ community, and who the respondent voted for in 2016. An interaction variable was created to see how race influenced these categories. For example, whether a white feminist might support Black Lives Matter more or less than a Black feminist or a white non-feminist. Race is the main determinant of support for Black Lives Matter.


Women Against "Women's Rights": Pro-Life Women, Jenna L. Vadinsky Oct 2020

Women Against "Women's Rights": Pro-Life Women, Jenna L. Vadinsky

Student Publications

The issue of abortion in the political arena became escapable after the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade. Nearly 50 years later, the issue of abortion continues to influence voting in all levels of government elections - from President to state governor. Although the restriction of legal abortion access disproportionally affects women, women are generally just as likely to support abortion as men. To research the phenomena of women voting and advocating against their own rights, I turned to religion - measured by how often a female attends religious ceremonies - as a possible explanation. In this paper, I delve …


The Trump Doctrine: America First, Not American Exceptionalism, Katelyn Oglesby Oct 2020

The Trump Doctrine: America First, Not American Exceptionalism, Katelyn Oglesby

Student Publications

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has developed out of an “America First” ideology that comprises both isolationism and interventionism depending on the situation. This differs from President Barack Obama’s preference for the ideology of American Exceptionalism, which placed America on an equal playing field with other nations and utilized international organizations, such as the United Nations and trade organizations. Most of the Trump Doctrine has arisen out of an intentional shift from “typical” foreign policy of Obama and previous, even Republican, presidents. While Trump is influenced by his White House advisers, he has sidelined the State Department and tends to …


The Consent Of The Governed, Carter A. Hanson Jul 2020

The Consent Of The Governed, Carter A. Hanson

Student Publications

The Consent of the Governed is a Kolbe Fellowship project investigating gerrymandering through the lens of mathematics, Supreme Court litigation, and the potential for redistricting reform. It was produced as a five-episode podcast during the summer of 2020; this paper is the transcription of the podcast script. The project begins with an analysis of the impact of gerrymandering on the composition of the current U.S. House of Representatives. It then investigates the arguments and stories of Supreme Court gerrymandering cases in the past twenty years within their political contexts, with a focus on the Court's reaction to different mathematical methods …


Public Support For Black Lives Matter, Lilian A. Morrell Jul 2020

Public Support For Black Lives Matter, Lilian A. Morrell

Student Publications

I hypothesize that in a comparison of individuals, those who have believe in, or have been subject to discrimination, are more likely to support BLM. I am doing research regarding American politics and social structure; I want to take into account the whole nation, and I'm not concerned about data from outside the U.S. This data set includes information about respondents, race, gender, and sexuality, all of which I need to know if I want to take into account the effects of oppression on support of Black Lives Matter. I am only going to use the nes2016 dataset because no …


Does Imprisonment Have An Effect On Crime Rates?, Diana E. Mendez Apr 2020

Does Imprisonment Have An Effect On Crime Rates?, Diana E. Mendez

Student Publications

Since the 1790s, prisons in the United States were built with the means of reducing crime rates through the usage of incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. However, while it may seem intuitive to assume that higher incarceration rates yield lower crime rates, it is not regularly the case. Using the 2016 States dataset, I examine the effects of incarceration rates and its influence on crime rates in the United States; I suggest that states with higher incarceration rates will have higher crime rates than states with lower incarceration rates. Therefore, the evidence concludes states with high incarceration rates generate higher rates …


The Efficacy Of Foreign Aid In Counterterrorism Efforts, Carter A. Hanson Apr 2020

The Efficacy Of Foreign Aid In Counterterrorism Efforts, Carter A. Hanson

Student Publications

A literature review investigating the effectiveness of foreign aid in countering terrorism, and donor countries' motivations to allocate foreign aid with the stated goal of combating terrorist insurgencies in recipient nations. In the post-9/11 period, the United States has increasingly invested in counterterrorism efforts, making the assessment and examination of the effectiveness of these efforts all the more important for American policymakers and citizens alike.


Women In State Legislatures And State-Level Abortion Restrictions, Sydney N. Siegel Apr 2020

Women In State Legislatures And State-Level Abortion Restrictions, Sydney N. Siegel

Student Publications

This research paper explores the relationship between women in state legislatures and state level abortion restrictions. This relationship is explored, and then tested against the amount of democratic legislators, the conservatism, of the public, and the religiosity of the public using a linear regression. While the findings are complex, they show that women do have an impact on state level abortion restrictions in some instances.


2020 Virginia House Of Delegates: Demographics And Voting Behavior, Nathan Tatum Jan 2020

2020 Virginia House Of Delegates: Demographics And Voting Behavior, Nathan Tatum

Student Publications

The focus of this project is on the demographic makeup of the 2020 Virginia House of Delegates, and how various demographic factors - political affiliation, gender/sex, race, religious affiliation, education level, and age - may influence their voting behavior on different legislation. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part explains the measures and methodology used in the creation of the dataset. The second and third parts make use of the information collected in the dataset. The second part details the demographic makeup of the 2020 Va. House and compares the makeup of the House to the makeup …


Presidential Leadership In The Space Age, Ziv R. Carmi Oct 2019

Presidential Leadership In The Space Age, Ziv R. Carmi

Student Publications

Mankind’s quest to reach the moon consisted of many people in leadership positions. In the US, however, many of the decisions behind the space race, especially funding for it, were made by four men: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Richard Nixon. While some presidents (namely Kennedy) receive more credit than others for their work on bringing man to the moon, each of them passed influential policy that was vital in the development of Apollo: Eisenhower founded NASA and began research on the Saturn V, Kennedy gave vision and urgency to the program, Johnson gave massive …


The Enigma Of Electability: How Do Voters Predict Who Can Win?, Emily C. Dalgleish Oct 2019

The Enigma Of Electability: How Do Voters Predict Who Can Win?, Emily C. Dalgleish

Student Publications

Ideological moderation is often assumed to inform a candidate's electability. This article examines the effects of a voters’ perceptions of a candidate’s ideology on the voters’ belief in the candidate’s ability to win the election. Using data from the American National Election Survey from 2008 and 2016, the paper compares the effect of the perceived ideology of a candidate and individuals' predictions about the candidate that will win. Opinions regarding Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Donald Trump are analyzed. The results suggest that for the Democratic candidates, voters who believed them to be more moderate or conservative were …


Political Identification: How Parental Values Are Influenced, Nina I. Rubenstein Apr 2019

Political Identification: How Parental Values Are Influenced, Nina I. Rubenstein

Student Publications

Politics is an ever-growing part of American culture and, as a result, party identification has become an integral part of many Americans’ identity. Party affiliation largely impacts the values of different individuals. Using the 2012 National Election Survey, I evaluate the influence of party identification on what is seen as more valuable traits in children. Specifically, I focus on the preference of obedience over self-reliance and independence over respect. I find that in a comparison of individuals, when controlled for race, the opinions across non-white respondents of different political identifications are indistinguishable. Additionally, I find that among white respondents, those …


The Shrinking Center: When Are Centrists More Effective Lawmakers?, Benjamin Pontz Apr 2018

The Shrinking Center: When Are Centrists More Effective Lawmakers?, Benjamin Pontz

Student Publications

Legislative effectiveness is an inherently amorphous -- even subjective -- concept. Yet, arguably, it is among the most important considerations when evaluating the performance of members of Congress. Using Volden and Wiseman's index, the Legislative Effectiveness Score (LES), I evaluate when ideology informs or predicts effectiveness in passing laws, which I conceptualize as the fundamental role of legislators. In particular, I assess the extent to which centrists are more or less effective than their more partisan peers. I find that, while the number of centrists has declined precipitously, their ideology does not -- at least at the broadest level -- …


Is Citizenship Still Relevant? State Sovereignty, Migration, And Sanctuary Cities In A Globalizing World, Melissa J. Lauro Apr 2018

Is Citizenship Still Relevant? State Sovereignty, Migration, And Sanctuary Cities In A Globalizing World, Melissa J. Lauro

Student Publications

This paper argues that sanctuary cities and sanctuary policies in the United States are a manifestation of the conflicts resulting from processes of globalization, which have changed traditional notions of citizenship, state sovereignty, and state security, as well as fostered a cultural backlash and identity politics within the U.S.


How Different Generations Perceive Political News, Elizabeth C. Hilfrank Apr 2018

How Different Generations Perceive Political News, Elizabeth C. Hilfrank

Student Publications

The 2016 presidential election was one of the first elections to see new media play a large role. While also being the first presidential election many millennials could vote in, this research paper looks at how different generations used various news sources to receive political news in 2016. The paper is supported by a documentary video case-study of the author's close close family and friends' perception of political news in 2016.


Seismic Waves, Aubrey L. Kamppila Oct 2017

Seismic Waves, Aubrey L. Kamppila

Student Publications

I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy on November 9, 2016, when I awoke to the news that Donald Trump had been elected President. To say it was a shock was an understatement, like many Americans, I had never dreamed the scenario possible. At that moment, I felt more powerless and disconnected from my country than ever before. For the next few weeks, I struggled to comprehend how I personally could combat the assault on my political views and values, what stand I could take, and what impact it might have. Finally, on one of many emotional phone calls with …


Presidency First: The Unitary Executive Governs America, Benjamin R. Pontz Oct 2017

Presidency First: The Unitary Executive Governs America, Benjamin R. Pontz

Student Publications

While considerable debate has occurred over the founders’ original conception of the executive’s proper role, most can agree that the unitary executive theory developed during the George W. Bush administration expanded executive power far beyond that original conception. Though a vocal opponent to Bush’s expansion of power, President Barack Obama asserted similarly sweeping powers in both foreign and domestic policy. While President Donald Trump demonstrates clear ambivalence towards an all-encompassing rule of law, early indicators suggest that he will exhibit a proclivity for robust assertions of executive power that will rival or surpass his immediate predecessors even if, in some …


Rhetoric Vs Reality: Public Opinion On Immigration In The United States, Elizabeth M. Belair Apr 2016

Rhetoric Vs Reality: Public Opinion On Immigration In The United States, Elizabeth M. Belair

Student Publications

The United States has a rich and interesting history of immigration. The country itself was created by waves of immigrants who came from across the globe. Although immigration has always existed in the U.S., the number of immigrants coming to the United States has increased during the 21st century, and as a result, a controversial debate surrounding the consequences of immigration has emerged. In this paper I examine how Americans view the debate on immigration, specifically focusing on what affects public opinion on this topic. I find that shifts in public opinion do not reflect changes in immigration patterns but …


Cómo Obama Ganó El 2012: Un Análisis Del Voto Latino (How Obama Won In 2012: Analyzing The Latino Vote), Ellen B. Rickes Apr 2016

Cómo Obama Ganó El 2012: Un Análisis Del Voto Latino (How Obama Won In 2012: Analyzing The Latino Vote), Ellen B. Rickes

Student Publications

Cada año, en promedio, durante su primer mandato, Barack Obama deportó a cuatrocientas mil personas. De hecho, la administración de Obama ha deportado el número de deportaciones más alto, cada año, en la historia de los EEUU. A pesar de esa política, Obama ganó el 67% del voto latino el 2008, y el 2012, gano el 71%. Este proyecto examina cómo Obama ganó el apoyo de tantos votantes latinos en la reelección, especialmente cuando se considera las deportaciones durante su primer mandato.

Barack Obama deported four hundred thousand people each year, on average, during his first term in office. In …


Black Praxis: The Trace Of Jamesian Pragmatism In Duboisian Scholar Activism, Jerome D. Clarke Apr 2016

Black Praxis: The Trace Of Jamesian Pragmatism In Duboisian Scholar Activism, Jerome D. Clarke

Student Publications

Philosophy and activism formed a mutualist relationship in regards to 20th-century Black American politics. Emancipatory theories undergirded the civil disobedience and reformist action of the entire century. W.E.B. DuBois, renowned African-American academic at the forefront of American and Pan-Africanist liberation movements, is often divorced from his originary philosophical roots. As he became the first Black PhD graduate of Harvard University, his mentor was philosopher and psychologist William James. James is the forefather of American Pragmatism, a school of thought still alive and dynamic in this day. DuBoisian scholars tend however to stress the German Idealist influences on DuBois’s thought. Informed …


The Effect Of Women In Government On Government Effectiveness, Abigail L. Tootell Apr 2015

The Effect Of Women In Government On Government Effectiveness, Abigail L. Tootell

Student Publications

A critical factor of gender and development is the political empowerment of women. Beyond this equality, however, what are the effects of women in government? This paper investigates these effects by examining the relationship between the percentage of women in parliament and overall government effectiveness. The research strongly supports the theory that women are more effective political leaders than their male counterparts.


Dwight Eisenhower, The Warrior, & John Kennedy, The Cold Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents, Andrew C. Nosti Oct 2014

Dwight Eisenhower, The Warrior, & John Kennedy, The Cold Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents, Andrew C. Nosti

Student Publications

This paper presents a comparison between President Eisenhower and President Kennedy's foreign affairs policies, specifically regarding the Cold War, by examining the presidents' interactions with four distinct Cold War regions.