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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Political Science

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Journal

2018

Political party

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Does Ideology Trump Party Loyalty? Utah, Mcmullin, And The 2016 Election, Soren Schmidt, Dr. Michael Barber May 2018

Does Ideology Trump Party Loyalty? Utah, Mcmullin, And The 2016 Election, Soren Schmidt, Dr. Michael Barber

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Do voters prioritize party loyalty or personal ideology when casting a ballot? In the contemporary political climate, it is nearly impossible to tell because the two go hand in hand: almost all Democratic candidates are liberal, and almost all Republican candidates are conservative. Consequently, it is difficult to discern, for example, whether a voter supports a Democrat because the candidate is a Democrat, or because the candidate is a liberal. However, Utah’s 2016 presidential election presented a highly unusual opportunity to separate the two factors. In a state consistently dominated by the Republican Party, the collision of a highly unpopular …