Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Politics (5)
- COVID-19 (2)
- Campaigns (2)
- Conspiracy theories (2)
- Ideology (2)
-
- Religion (2)
- Republican (2)
- Social Media (2)
- Voting behavior (2)
- 1950s (1)
- 1952 (1)
- Age (1)
- America (1)
- American politics (1)
- Authoritarianism (1)
- Autocratic (1)
- Ballot measure (1)
- Ballot roll-off (1)
- Ballot structure (1)
- Behavior (1)
- Bias (1)
- Candidate (1)
- Christian (1)
- Civic duty (1)
- Climate Change (1)
- Communications (1)
- Comparative Analysis (1)
- Congressional District (1)
- Conspiracy thinking (1)
- Conspiratorial thinking (1)
Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Who Changes Who? Political Implications Of The Rising Hispanic Population, Drayton Purvis
Who Changes Who? Political Implications Of The Rising Hispanic Population, Drayton Purvis
Honors Theses
Studying the growth of the Hispanic population yields specific political implications to be drawn based on the rate of growth for each Congressional District. Using Data from 2000, 2010, and 2020 Censuses along with Harvard’s Data Set titled, “Historical Congressional Legislation and District Demographics 1972-2014”, the information allows for interpretations to be made based on a Congressional District’s NOMINATE score and its percentage of the Hispanic population. After researching specific influences that help shape the Latino population in a political sense, like country of origin and level of generation in the United States, there were certain characteristics that have been …
The New Teacher Of Ideas: A Study On Social Media, Political Influencers, And Generation Z, Brenley Rinaudo
The New Teacher Of Ideas: A Study On Social Media, Political Influencers, And Generation Z, Brenley Rinaudo
Honors Theses
The current study focuses on members of Generation Z and where they learn about politics and receive political news. Different than previous generations, Generation Z receives news on social media more than on traditional media platforms (Murmuration, 2023). Politicians must quickly begin to understand how to engage and connect with the next generation of voters on these social media platforms. For these reasons, this study surveyed members of Generation Z at The University of Mississippi. Current University of Mississippi students are members of Generation Z and reflect common trends among this Generation, such as constant usage of social media. This …
Ideological Extremism, Conspiratorial Thought, And Support For Authoritarianism In The United States, Sophie N. Martino
Ideological Extremism, Conspiratorial Thought, And Support For Authoritarianism In The United States, Sophie N. Martino
Honors Theses
Since the nation’s founding, Americans have tended to take democracy for granted. People see democracy as a given, believing that adherence to democratic values will persist. However, in the past few election cycles, there has been a trend in support for authoritarianism in the United States – not just with political leaders and figures, but also with individuals susceptible to authoritarian values and signals. This thesis seeks to address this apparent threat of authoritarianism in the United States, delving into possible factors that play a role in the growing support for authoritarian attitudes among Americans. I believe that two phenomena …
Voting Behavior And Motivations Across Generations: Evidence From A Nationally Representative U.S. Survey, Angela Alexander
Voting Behavior And Motivations Across Generations: Evidence From A Nationally Representative U.S. Survey, Angela Alexander
Honors Theses
The four generations of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z are all distinct in nature as it relates to their characteristics, which are shaped by the American culture in which they were born. These generations as a whole also have different levels of political participation and political ideals. The purpose of this study is to examine how these differences correlate to voting behavior. The goal is to draw conclusions about the differences between voting behavior across generational lines, discovering patterns especially as it relates to motivations for voting. Through the use of a nationally representative survey, I was …
Education, Media Coverage, And Ballot Roll-Off: Evidence From Three Ballot Measures In Mississippi, Morgan Atkins
Education, Media Coverage, And Ballot Roll-Off: Evidence From Three Ballot Measures In Mississippi, Morgan Atkins
Honors Theses
Ballot roll-off is an issue that continues to plague American society, leaving thousands of ballots incomplete every election cycle. In my research, I investigate what influences the likelihood of voters rolling off on three ballot measures in the 2020 Mississippi elections. I hypothesize that educational attainment and newspaper coverage in voters’ counties will have an impact on ballot roll-off. I observe previous research on the influences of ballot roll-off, and I combine the data I collected for voter turnout in Mississippi in 2020 and newspaper coverage of ballot measures from six sources to evaluate the influence of each of these …
How Religion And Age Are Correlated With Partisan Geographical Sorting In The United States, Claire Monsour
How Religion And Age Are Correlated With Partisan Geographical Sorting In The United States, Claire Monsour
Honors Theses
This study explores the intersection of two main demographic variables, religion and age, and the ongoing phenomenon of partisan geographical sorting in the United States. Americans have been migrating to areas composed of politically like-minded individuals for the past few decades, resulting in the existence of Republican and Democratic clusters throughout the country. Republicans are sorting into rural areas, while Democrats are sorting into urban areas. Republicans and rural residents as a whole are more religious than are Democrats and urban residents. In addition, on average, Republicans and rural residents are older than Democrats and urban residents. Moreover, religion and …
Delineating The Source And Implications Of Social Polarization, Logan Kohan
Delineating The Source And Implications Of Social Polarization, Logan Kohan
Honors Theses
The purpose of this research was to examine the causes and consequences that meta-perceptions of polarization in the United States entails. The survey used in this study assessed respondents demographic and political information prior to questions regarding polarization. This study found that the polarization in the United States results from a multitude of variables, including: the intrusion of partisan cues into everyday life, social sorting, polarization’s implicit effect, and differences in moral concern. Moreover, polarization encompasses and variety of ramifications that include disease, amplified interparty animosity, biased policy evaluation, reduced governmental efficiency, intraparty polarization, tribalism, and the quest to achieve …
Employing A Public Policy Evaluative Framework: An Analysis Of Domestic Theme Park Development, Anthony Gray Houser
Employing A Public Policy Evaluative Framework: An Analysis Of Domestic Theme Park Development, Anthony Gray Houser
Honors Theses
The intention of the thesis is to examine the relationship between the development of the Walt Disney Company’s theme parks and public policy. Using the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California and the Walt Disney World Resort outside of Orlando, Florida as case studies, this thesis will execute a comparative analysis to better understand the relationship between the Walt Disney Company’s theme parks and public policy. Using an evaluative framework, this thesis will provide a deeper understanding of how public policy affected the development and the current operations of these theme parks. The driving research question in this thesis is, ‘what …
Perilous Place: Personal Stories Point To Possible Solutions To Widespread Flooding In The Mississippi Delta, Jared Poland
Perilous Place: Personal Stories Point To Possible Solutions To Widespread Flooding In The Mississippi Delta, Jared Poland
Honors Theses
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and create journalistic stories highlighting the Yazoo Backwater Pumps Projects relationship to climate change while utilizing narrative storytelling techniques. Before explaining the methodology used for conducting research and interviews, the researcher describes the influence that innovations of mass communication channels have had on the way humans form groups and persuasively advocate for their positions. The researcher describes their historical perspective of mass media innovations that were vital considerations during their discovery and investigation of this politically divisive issue. The researcher more specifically focuses on the innovations that have occurred since the digital …
Women, Money, And Politics: Do Female Politicians Raise As Much Money As Men?, Taylor Harris
Women, Money, And Politics: Do Female Politicians Raise As Much Money As Men?, Taylor Harris
Honors Theses
This thesis seeks to answer if female politicians raise as much money as male politicians. In order to answer this question, I collected data from the Harvard MIT Election Data Science Lab. It has every candidate that ran in the general election for the House of Representatives from 1976 through 2018, but, for the purpose of this project, only the Presidential election years from 1980 through 2016 are used in this data set. It also includes how much money they raised, what state they are from, and what party the candidate was affiliated with. This data set also accounts for …
The Effects Of Spousal Cues On Candidate Religious And Ideological Perceptions, Joseph Murphy Iii
The Effects Of Spousal Cues On Candidate Religious And Ideological Perceptions, Joseph Murphy Iii
Honors Theses
The importance of religion, or lack thereof, in determining vote choice has seen a growing body of literature in the last few decades, especially in Europe and the United States. Given the way religion has been ingrained in American society since its inception, it is not surprising that political candidates would use language cues as a way to signal that they share certain beliefs with their voters. These cues do not always have to be uttered by the political candidates themselves as, for example, the spouses of political candidates are often deployed as surrogates for the candidate. The experiment I …
Do Autocratic Regimes Excel In Natural Disaster Relief? A Case Study Of Political Institutions And Covid-19 Exposure, Jane Kay
Honors Theses
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has challenged what we know about the politics of public health. In this research study, I investigate the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural disaster and hypothesize if authoritarian governments are more adequate at disaster control and relief. I hypothesize that the more autocratic a government structure, the better they would be at handling COVID-19 exposure and outbreaks due to their centralized decision making, unified media, and their ability to make unpopular decisions without repercussions. In order to test this theory, I gather data from the Johns Hopkins database for three key dates in the pandemic …
Partisan Cues, Emotion, And The Efficacy Of Corrections To Misinformation About Democratic Norms, Julia Ruth James
Partisan Cues, Emotion, And The Efficacy Of Corrections To Misinformation About Democratic Norms, Julia Ruth James
Honors Theses
Political misinformation and threats to democratic norms are major problems for American democracy. This thesis examines belief in misinformation about democratic norms and the efficacy of corrective information (fact-checking) in multiple circumstances, specifically analyzing the effects of emotions, partisan cues, and conspiracy thinking on the efficacy of the corrective information. To measure these effects, a survey of 45 questions was fielded through Lucid. Approximately 2000 respondents answered questions about their demographics, political beliefs/participation, and media habits. These respondents were subsequently randomly sorted into 1 of 8 experimental groups and received an emotional priming activity and a simulated news article containing …
An Analysis Of Natural Courts: How Vacancies And Replacements On The Supreme Court Best Determine The Ideological Shifts Of The Court And What Effect Longevity Has On Ideology., Lauren Moses
Honors Theses
This thesis seeks to explore natural courts and ideology among members of the Supreme Court. Most studies of the Supreme Court allocate focus to the chief justice such that the justice and his ideology determines whether the Court will be described as liberal or conservative for the chief's tenure. However, this thesis questions this model of distinction for the highest court in the land. An analysis of natural courts from Marshall through Roberts specifically targets the highest and lowest ideological shifts between natural courts to understand how vacancies and replacements manipulate the ideology of the Court. In addition to the …
Perceptions Of Judicial Bias In The Mississippi Judiciary, Allyson Avant
Perceptions Of Judicial Bias In The Mississippi Judiciary, Allyson Avant
Honors Theses
The purpose of this study is to explore Mississippians’ opinions towards the Mississippi state judiciary and further examine any differences in such opinions across race, gender, knowledge, and education levels. In doing so, it is possible to gain further understanding of the ways that historical context and knowledge influence perceptions of the state judiciary. Data collected from an anonymous survey of approximately 500 individuals shed some light on the perceptions Mississippians have towards the state judiciary. While many of the results were generalizable across various demographics, African Americans consistently held more negative views of their state judiciary than their White …
Y'All Like Ike: Tennessee, The Solid South, And The 1952 Presidential Election, Cameron N. Regnery
Y'All Like Ike: Tennessee, The Solid South, And The 1952 Presidential Election, Cameron N. Regnery
Honors Theses
This thesis examines the changing nature of politics in the American South, specifically through the 1952 presidential election in the state of Tennessee. For much of the South’s history, the region was dominated by the Democratic party, earning it the nickname the “Solid South”. Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the South became an aggressively one-party region in which the Republican party found little electoral success and the Democratic party reigned supreme. This partisanship began showing signs of fracturing in 1948 when southern Democrats began to leave the party over racial issues. The presidency of Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) further …
“[Don’T] Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor...” A Study On The Trump Administration’S Unprecedented Reforms To The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program And Their Implications, Savannah Day
Honors Theses
From 2017 to 2020, the Trump administration cut United States refugee admissions tenfold. These reforms come unprecedented to the 40-year-old resettlement program (USRAP). By critically reviewing literature on this topic as well as conducting eight original interviews with five national nonprofits contracted by the Department of State to do refugee resettlement casework, this study sought to identify the implications of the Trump administration’s reforms to the program. Once implications were identified, I used the applied frameworks of program model as well as Michael Worth’s sociological and political science theories of American nonprofit-government relations to better inform and guide the study. …
Constitutional War Powers Of The United States: The Founding Prescription And Historical Adherence, Blake Annexstad
Constitutional War Powers Of The United States: The Founding Prescription And Historical Adherence, Blake Annexstad
Honors Theses
When crafting the United States Constitution, America’s Founders carefully prescribed an institutional balance of the Nation’s war powers between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. To examine the intentions of the Founders regarding the Nation’s war powers as well as how American leadership has adhered to this intent post-ratification, this study carefully analyzes the circumstances which compelled this balance as well as its application throughout the history of the American experiment. Following an examination of these circumstances and the history of the United States, it is clear that American leadership, despite adhering to the Founders’ intentions for …
Measuring Religious Demographic Group Threat Among Americans And Its Impacts On Their Political Beliefs, Karsen Bailey
Measuring Religious Demographic Group Threat Among Americans And Its Impacts On Their Political Beliefs, Karsen Bailey
Honors Theses
Identity is one of the key drivers of American political behavior. Among these identities, be it partisan, ethnic, class, etc., religious identity has been more or less assumed to be one of the more powerful identities. I set out to measure how the threat of Christianity’s decline in the United States impacts the salience of religious identity and feelings towards religion-adjacent policies. Building off of an experimental design from Major et al (2016), I hypothesized that when exposed to data showing the decline of religiosity in the United States, subjects would demonstrate both a stronger religious identity and more conservative …
Challenges Remain In Conducting Adequate Congressional Oversight, Alexander Crouch
Challenges Remain In Conducting Adequate Congressional Oversight, Alexander Crouch
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.