How Traditional And Social Media Shapes Public Perception Of United States Surpeme Court Decisions On Civil Liberties, Leila P. Martin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study examines how traditional and social medai shape public perception of U.S. Supreme Court decisions on Civil liberties, focusing on four landmark cases: Dobbs v. Jackson, District of Columbia v. Heller, Materpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and Obergfell v. Hodges. Using Entmans framing theory, the research analyzes how tone, language, emphasis, and ideological slant differ across media platofrms and how these frames infleunce public attitudes, insitutional trust, and civic understanding. A mixed-methods design combines archival media analysis, national polling data from Pew Rsearch Center and gallup, and an independent survery to asses how media narratives, rather than …

Assignment 4: The Calculus Of Voting—Is Voting Rational?, Phillip Ardoin

Phillip Ardoin, Fight Club Politics

No abstract provided.

Assignment 3: Scroll, Share, Repeat: Breaking The Political Hobbyism Cycle, Phillip Ardoin

Phillip Ardoin, Fight Club Politics

Eitan Hersh argues in his work Politics is for Power that more Americans engage in “political hobbyism”—treating politics as a spectator sport rather than as a means to acquire power and create change. Hersh argues that much of what Americans call “political engagement” is actually political hobbyism—consuming news, debating online, or following politics as entertainment rather than working to acquire power or influence policy. This assignment asks you to critically engage with Hersh’s ideas and reflect on your own political practices.

Assignment 1: Voices Of Citizenship - A Political Storycorps Project, Phillip Ardoin

Phillip Ardoin, Fight Club Politics

StoryCorps is a national project dedicated to the idea that everyone has a story worth sharing. Its mission is “to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all—one story at a time.” This assignment uses the StoryCorps model to explore one of the most fundamental concepts in American Government: political socialization.

Assignment 2: Breaking The Bubble— Examining Your Political Information Diet, Phillip Ardoin

Phillip Ardoin, Fight Club Politics

How we consume political information shapes our understanding of the world. This assignment examines how “filter bubbles” and “media bubbles” create echo chambers that reinforce our existing beliefs while limiting exposure to diverse perspectives. You’ll analyze your own information ecosystem and compare it with someone from a different political perspective.

Assignment 6: The Soundtrack Of Power: Music As A Tool For Political Mobilization, Rebellion, And Reflection, Phillip Ardoin

Phillip Ardoin, Fight Club Politics

Music has been intertwined with political life since the earliest human civilizations. From ancient war drums to revolutionary anthems, from campaign rally soundtracks to protest chants echoing through city streets, music has served as one of humanity’s most powerful tools for political expression, mobilization, and resistance. It can unite thousands of strangers in a shared emotional experience, crystallize complex political grievances into a memorable chorus, and preserve the memory of movements long after their participants have passed

Assignment 5: Understanding Our Moral Foundations: My Political Dna, Phillip Ardoin

Phillip Ardoin, Fight Club Politics

This multi-part assignment is designed to help you understand the psychological underpinnings of political ideologies and develop the skills to communicate more effectively across the political spectrum. You will explore your own moral framework, analyze how it shapes your beliefs, and learn to frame arguments that resonate with those who hold different values.

Rewriting The Nation: Collective Memory And The 1776 Commission, Dashiell K. Brown

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This paper examines the ongoing struggle over the historical memory in the United States through an analysis of the 1776 Commission and its 2021 report. It argues that the report represents a deliberate effort to construct and control collective memory in order to promote a particular vision of national identity. By placing the 1776 Commission within a broader historiographical and political context, the paper shows how efforts to shape public understanding of history are closely tied to struggles over power, education, and national identity.

“Not Just A Muslim Candidate”: Zohran Mamdani’S Mediated Political Representation On Instagram @Zohrankmamdani, Arina Naila Hanifa Sadono, Verdy Firmantoro

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This study examines how Zohran Mamdani’s Instagram account, @zohrankmamdani, communicates his Muslim minority identity and constructs his mediated political representation through political human branding. As the first Muslim mayor of New York City, Mamdani represents a case of Muslim minority political representation in a context where Muslim Americans face negative perceptions and discrimination. This study analyzes his New York City mayoral election campaign from June 25 to November 4, 2025, using Mayring’s qualitative content analysis to examine 48 purposively selected Instagram posts from a total of 286 posts published during the period. The findings show that his political persona extends …

Remembering The Fallen: College Football Death, Community Memory, And The Memorialization Of Student-Athletes, 1923–1984, Seth Skebo

Scholars Week

Remembering the Fallen: College Football Death, Community Memory, and the Memorialization of Student-Athletes, 1923–1984

Student Name: Seth Skebo

Panel: History Senior Research Seminar Panel: The History of Death

This presentation will examine how local communities and changing social values shaped the ways college football players were remembered after dying from injuries on the field. Using Gilbert Graves of Murray State University, who died in 1924, and Jack Trice of Iowa State University, who died in 1923, this project asks why their deaths were memorialized differently and how the meanings attached to their lives and deaths changed over time.

Both deaths …

Mass Resettlement Politics And The Future Of Hyper-Local Climate Migration Strategies, Sarah Rogerson

Pace Environmental Law Review

Climate change is requiring state and local governments to engage in short- and long-term strategic thinking and municipal planning. Critically, the movement of people from communities that have become uninhabitable due to climate change to other communities in more resilient areas (sometimes called “climate havens”) is a reality that most municipalities in the United States are not currently well-equipped to address. Experts predict as many as 1.2 billion climate-related migrants worldwide by 2050, with at least 93 million Americans expected to relocate to more habitable places by 2070. To put this into perspective, 93 million people is just under the …

El Presidente, Su Relación Con México Y Los Inmigrantes, Rocío Carranza Brito, Berenice Darwich

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

No abstract provided.

From “Build The Wall” To “Mass Deportations” In Contemporary U.S. Political Discourse, Anthony Salazar Vazquez

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

No abstract provided.

De La Mano Invisible Al Free Marketplace Of Ideas: Ideología Y Desencanto Político En El Fin Del Fin De La Historia, Sylvia Chaves O’Flynn

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

No abstract provided.

Make La Lengua A Weapon Again. Apuntes Glotopolíticos Desde El Mexican Studies Institute, Luis B. Quesada Nieto, Cecilia María Salvi, Julia Piastro García

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

Make la lengua a weapon again. Apuntes glotopolíticos desde el Mexican Studies Institute reúne ensayos que reflexionan en torno a diversos fenómenos lingüístico-discursivos y su relación con lo político, enmarcados en el primer año del segundo periodo de Donald Trump al frente de la Administración estadunidense (2025-2029). La edición y publicación de esta compilación constituye el primer número de la iniciativa editorial del Mexican Studies Institute de la City University of New York (CUNY), en su objetivo por impulsar la educación y la investigación con perspectiva social, poniendo el foco en temas centrales de y para la comunidad latina de …

A Tale Of Two States: Abortion Referenda In The Aftermath Of Dobbs, Shauna Reilly, Ainsley Boggs, Tanner Freeman

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the access to abortion that had been established with Roe v Wade. As a result, states had autonomy to make statewide policies on this issue. Some states chose complete bans, some partial bans, and others provided continuing access to abortion. This article explores the dueling referenda of 2022 and 2023 in Kentucky and Ohio, respectively, following the Dobbs decision in 2022. Voters in both states voted to continue to permit abortion access in their states, yet access in each state is different. Using case studies, we examine the political nuances and electoral aftermath …

The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign And The Challenge To American Democracy, Zachary Morris

The Journal of Economics and Politics

No abstract provided.

The Political Divergence Of Ohio And Michigan, Dominic D. Wells, David J. Jackson

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Ohio and Michigan are demographically similar states whose politics have diverged since 2016. This research aims to explain why these two Midwestern states have taken such different political paths in recent years. A comparative case study is used to examine a number of possible explanations. The results of this research show that institutional factors such as registration and voting laws, redistricting processes, and ballot measures have contributed to the political divergence of Ohio and Michigan. Further, data on policy preferences are compared to show that the differences between the states are not the result of different policy preferences among their …

How The Tea Party Captured The Gop Insurgent Factions In American Politics, Zachary Morris

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Blum’s work provides a strong starting point to understand how factions can have a lasting impact on parties. Still, this work offers a theoretical framework to understand how insurgent factions such as the Tea Party can have a lasting effect on the Republican Party. This book review analyzes Blum’s work and provides analysis and gentle criticisms of this work. The Tea Party successfully renegotiated the ideological positions of the Republican Party by using confrontational tactics and challenging established GOP candidates. Through these insurgent tactics, the Tea Party reshaped the Republican Party to embrace reactionary conservatism. This transformation of the Republican …

Extending Research Of Neighborhood Governance Systems: An Empirical Study Of Community Councils In Cincinnati, Ohio, Julie Cencula Olberding, Darrin Wilson, Stefanie Swiger

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Neighborhood governance systems have been developed as a way to enhance citizen engagement in local government, particularly in major cities. Scholarly research on these systems is quite limited, and most articles focus on neighborhood councils in Los Angeles, California. Our study extends this research to another system in a different city – specifically, community councils in Cincinnati, Ohio. Based on Li, Wen, and Cooper (2019), we surveyed their governing board members and analyzed relationships between three aspects of board performance (internal capacity, attention-action congruence, external networking) and three dimensions of community council effectiveness (promoting civic engagement, resolving neighborhood issues, advising …

A Battleground No More: Cosmopolitanism, The Culture Wars, And The Urban-Rural Divide In Ohio Elections, 2004-2020, Colin D. Swearingen, Thomas Lindstrom

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Long a battleground state in presidential elections, Ohio trended toward the GOP in both 2016 and 2020. Despite losing the national popular vote, Trump secured the state’s electoral votes by comfortable margins in both elections, sparking the question of what explains this shift? We ground this question broadly in the realignment literature, testing two slightly overlapping theoretical viewpoints: geo-cultural and socioeconomic/cosmopolitanism. The geo-cultural viewpoint emphasizes the urban-rural divide in American politics, arguing that the culture is completely different on opposite ends of the urban-rural continuum, resulting in disparate election results. The socioeconomic/cosmopolitan viewpoint acknowledges that culture and social issues play …

Ballot Measures In The Tristate: An Examination Of Ohio, Indiana And Kentucky, Shauna Reilly

The Journal of Economics and Politics

This paper explores the development, use and challenges facing the use of direct democracy in the Tristate area. Specifically, we examine how ballot language suppresses participation in direct democracy measures.

The Evolution Of Partisan Voting At The County Level In Georgia, Ohio, And Texas, 1990-2016, David R. Shock

The Journal of Economics and Politics

This paper evaluates aggregate-level partisan change in presidential and midterm elections at the county level in Georgia, Ohio, and Texas. Specifically, this analysis focuses on how demographic, electoral, cultural, and economic variables affect the percentage of the electorate voting for the Democratic Party candidates for U.S. President and other statewide offices from 1990 through 2016. In addition, this study conducts sub-state regional analyses using U.S. Census Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) to assess the local nature of partisan change in the U.S. OLS regression and correlation coefficients, as well as difference of means test results indicate that increases in population density …

The Impact Of Presidential Field Offices In Ohio, 2008-2012, Colin D. Swearingen

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Does a community’s proximity to a presidential field office impact presidential election results? Applying community-level data from the American Community Survey, we examine the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections in the battleground state of Ohio. Using spatial regression, we find that the number of Obama field offices within 10 miles significantly increased his share of the vote in 2012. While proximity to a McCain Victory Center statistically decreased a community’s Obama vote share, this result was not substantive. In 2012, a community’s proximity to a Romney field office did not influence the results. Proximity to an Obama field office also …

The Politics Of Passing And Implementing Medical Marijuana In Ohio, A. Lee Hannah

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Why did the state of Ohio adopt a medical marijuana policy? And why did it do so in 2016? This article examines the diffusion of medical cannabis policy across the U.S. and to Ohio by describing the evolution of images related to the policy and by exploring the content of the law. Using evidence from legislators’ remarks on the floor of the Ohio General Assembly and interviews with activists and analysts, I show that the direct initiative helped push members of the Ohio General Assembly to write and adopt a medical marijuana law (MML) when they were unlikely to do …

Transitory Ownership: A Spatial Analysis Of The Financialization Of The Housing Market In Cincinnati, Oh, Chad Kinsella, Colleen Mctague, Rafael Ranieri

The Journal of Economics and Politics

The mortgage bubble that burst in 2007 created an economic environment where many housing properties were transferred from individual households to investors hoping for quick profits with minimal investment. These properties were traded among investors, businesses, and lenders; they acquired a market identity as financial assets; and many of these properties were acquired by “out-of-area” interests. This study examines properties purchased by out-of-area interests that were sold in 2009 within the City of Cincinnati in an attempt to identify the spatial implications of the financialization of this housing stock. The analysis finds that many of these properties were sold multiple …

The Evolution Of Distributive Benefits: The Rise Of Letter-Marking In The United States Congress, Russell W. Mills, Nicole Kalaf-Hughes

The Journal of Economics and Politics

The recent moratorium on earmarks has given rise to a new and largely hidden practice for securing distributive benefits: letter-marking. Letter-marking occurs when members of Congress ask (in writing) the head of an agency to retain or allocate distributive benefits in their districts. While letter-marking is common in Washington, the scholarly literature has ignored this practice. We use a unique dataset of 101 congressional letters relating to FAA funding and empirically assess the degree to which the letter-writer’s characteristics and the letter’s content impact the likelihood of achieving the objectives. In doing so, we offer a nuanced understanding of letter-marking.

Identity And Efficacy: Latinos In The United States, Ryan Salzman, Shauna Reilly

The Journal of Economics and Politics

Questions about the effect of identity on political attitudes and behavior in the United States are increasingly important as its population becomes more diverse. The primary driver of that increased diversity is the expansion of the Latino population. Most research focuses on differences between various ethnic groups. This research project seeks to understand the effect of identity strength within the Latino population on attitudes about government. Using the 2006 Latino National Survey, the role of identity on efficacy is explored. The results indicate that efficacy among Latinos is related to identity. We also find results that reinforce the presence of …

Academic Unions In Recessionary Times, John Rothgeb, Katherine Mitakides

The Journal of Economics and Politics

This article investigates how unionization affected the way colleges and universities handled issues relating to faculty pay and layoffs, degree program cancellations and teaching loads, and student services during the severe recession that hit the country between late 2007 and early 2010. The data are from a national survey of department chairs. The results reveal that unionization reduced the likelihood of faculty pay actions and that classes would be taught at extended times, but was associated with a greater chance that classes would be offered at off-campus locations. Unionization had no effect on budget cuts, whether faculty were laid-off or …

Weapons Of Mass Destruction In The Curriculum: Textbook Narratives And Georgia's Standards Of Excellence, Kason Kendall, Robby Freetly

Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State

This article examines how weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and the 2003 invasion of Iraq are represented in Georgia's social studies curriculum. Standard SSUSH23.a of the Georgia Standards of Excellence requires instruction on the War on Terror but does not specify how WMDs or the Iraq War's contested justification should be addressed, leaving curriculum deelopers significant discretion. This study analyzes two widely circulated U.S. history textbooks, The American Visoin and United States History: Reconstruction to the Present, finding that both emphasize WMDs as a central justification for invasion while giving limited attention to post-invasion findings that no stockpiles were discovered. …