American Politics Commons^™

Facebook Changing The Face Of Voting: How The Internet And Social Networking Sites Affected Youth Voting Behaviors In The 2008 Election, Aleesha M. Larsen

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Since the eligible voting age was changed in 1972 to include 18-21 year-olds, turnout has been historically low for the youngest group of American voters. But, the 2008 election got young people to swarm the polls, resulting in one of the highest turnout rates, among the youngest age cohort, in history. The Obama campaign was the first to successfully use social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to help mobilize and persuade young voters. In this study, I attempted to find how significant of a role in the Internet played in convincing voters aged 18-24 to vote in 2008, especially …

News Coverage Of New Presidents In The New York Times, 1981-2009, Stephen J. Farnsworth, S Robert Lichter

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

Content analysis of front-page The New York Times stories during the first year of the Barack Obama presidency revealed news coverage that was far more positive in tone than that received during the first year of the Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush presidencies. Overall, the Obama findings reveal a media honeymoon in that influential newspaper, a sharp contrast from first-year coverage of other presidents during the modern era of a more combative press. The positive policy coverage Obama received in the Times was also significantly more positive than on evening newscasts of network television and on Fox …

Conservative Media And Political Socialization: Immigration, Gay Marriage, And Abortion As Presented By Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, And Cnn, Jeff Mckay

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study addresses the political socialization of politically conservative individuals and how political ideologies seem to coalesce among individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The main issue that this study aims to tackle is the impact of conservative media on the political socialization of conservative individuals and how media as an agent of socialization might influence them to support ideas that are not to their benefit economically. For instance, conservative individuals from various backgrounds wholeheartedly support the same free market principles. However, the negative effect that capitalism has had on the liberty of middle and lower class citizens of the United …

Open Secret: Why The Supreme Court Has Nothing To Fear From The Internet, Keith J. Bybee

Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media at Syracuse University

The United States Supreme Court has an uneasy relationship with openness: it complies with some calls for transparency, drags its feet in response to others, and sometimes simply refuses to go along. I argue that the Court’s position is understandable given that the internet age of fluid information and openness has often been heralded in terms that are antithetical to the Court’s operations. Even so, I also argue the Court actually has little to fear from greater transparency. The understanding of the Court with the greatest delegitimizing potential is the understanding that the justices render decisions on the basis of …

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

No abstract provided.

Ford Foundation, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

No abstract provided.

A West European Style Populist Radical Right Movement In America? The Case Of The Tea Party, Daniel May

McNair Scholars Research Journal

The Tea Party (TP), whose candidates made significant gains in the 2010-midterm elections, lacks a place in the comparative party literature and also defies ready classification. Is it solely a movement to reduce the size of government and cut taxes as its name – some refer to it as the Taxed Enough Already party – implies? Or do its supporters share a broader set of conservative positions on social as well as economic issues? Does the movement draw support from across the religious spectrum? Or has the religious right “taken over” the TP, as some commentators have suggested (Koelkebeck, 2010)? …

American Exceptionalism, U.S. Foreign Policy, And The 2012 Presidential Campaign, Jason Edwards

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Feminizing Presidents: Joseph Keppler And Gender In Gilded Age Political Cartoons, Jerome Gonzalez

American Studies Senior Theses

Amid the crowded newsstands of American cities in the late nineteenth century, the average reader flipping through a copy of Puck, a weekly humor magazine devoted to political and social issues, may have been surprised to see an unusual print: that of the President of the United States depicted in women’s clothing, with feminine features, performing a womanly task! These few drawings, alluding to both literary and social ideas, done by the Austrian immigrant artist Joseph Keppler, appeared in his Puck magazine in the years 1877, 1880, and 1884, coinciding around an election year. While Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, James …

Staff Of The People? Assessing Progress In Descriptive Representation Under The Obama Administration, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

Over the past few decades, presidents have made some increasingly noticeable efforts to fill their administrations with a higher number of minorities. Though not yet fully representative of the general public, such advances in descriptive representation are a sign of progressive change occurring within the executive branch, with positive potential implications for the state of representative democracy and public policy. In this article, I survey the current state of descriptive representation under the Obama presidency and the extent to which the president’s policy agenda has substantively addressed the needs of historically underrepresented groups. Descriptively, I find that President Barack Obama …

Staff Of The People? Assessing Progress In Descriptive Representation Under The Obama Administration, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

Over the past few decades, presidents have made some increasingly noticeable efforts to fill their administrations with a higher number of minorities. Though not yet fully representative of the general public, such advances in descriptive representation are a sign of progressive change occurring within the executive branch, with positive potential implications for the state of representative democracy and public policy. In this article, I survey the current state of descriptive representation under the Obama presidency and the extent to which the president’s policy agenda has substantively addressed the needs of historically underrepresented groups. Descriptively, I find that President Barack Obama …

The Return Of The Honeymoon: Television News Coverage Of New Presidents, 1981-2009, Stephen J. Farnsworth, S Robert Lichter

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

Content analysis of network evening news coverage during the first year of the Barack Obama presidency revealed coverage that was far more positive in tone than comparable news reports from the first years of the Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush presidencies. Both domestic and international policy evaluations of the Obama presidency were more positive in tone than those of the last three presidents to take office during partisan transfers of power. The findings reveal a revival of the media honeymoon that scholars thought had disappeared during the modern era of a more combative press. An investigation of …

Where Does The Buck Stop? Applying Attribution Theory To Examine Public Appraisals Of The President, Cigdem Sirin, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

This study applies attribution theory to examine public appraisals of the president. To date, most political science research on attribution theory has focused on domestic policy and no work has considered both domestic and foreign policy domains in tandem. To fill this gap, we formulate and experimentally test a series of hypotheses regarding the level of responsibility and credit/blame that individuals attribute to the president in both policy domains across varying policy conditions. We also consider how party compatibility affects people’s attribution judgments. Our findings provide a new contribution to the literature on political attributions, executive accountability, and public perceptions …

Pace 9/11 Oral History Project, Maria T. Iacullo-Bird (Principal Investigator), Ellen Sowchek (Co-Principal Investigator), Jennifer Thomas (Co-Principal Investigator)

Cornerstone 2 Reports : Community Outreach and Empowerment Through Service Learning and Volunteerism

No abstract provided.

Where Does The Buck Stop? Applying Attribution Theory To Examine Public Appraisals Of The President, Cigdem Sirin, José Villalobos

Departmental Papers (PS)

This study applies attribution theory to examine public appraisals of the president. To date, most political science research on attribution theory has focused on domestic policy and no work has considered both domestic and foreign policy domains in tandem. To fill this gap, we formulate and experimentally test a series of hypotheses regarding the level of responsibility and credit/blame that individuals attribute to the president in both policy domains across varying policy conditions. We also consider how party compatibility affects people’s attribution judgments. Our findings provide a new contribution to the literature on political attributions, executive accountability, and public perceptions …

“Change” In The 2008 Presidential Campaign: A Study In Rhetorical Definition, Graciela Saez Kleriga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Every election cycle, the major party candidates accept a nomination for the presidency and launch the general campaign. These rhetors not only weave a narrative about themselves as qualified candidates; they also forward an argument about how the public should choose between two candidates. In particular, the 2008 presidential campaign's central question asked Americans about the type of change the nation should undertake. By tracing the definitional arguments utilized at the outset of the general election, this project analyzes how Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain utilized this desire for "Change" as a strategic theme.

What Is Conservatism?, Heidi Peters

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

The re-branding of the right manifested itself in conservative movements and gatherings across the country in-between 2008 & 2010. One of those events included Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally on August 28, 2010. This research project is a case study that illustrates how the conservative political ideology is defined and rejuvenated after massive defeat.

Network Television’S Coverage Of The 2008 Presidential Election, Stephen J. Farnsworth, S Robert Lichter

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

Content analysis of network evening news coverage of the 2008 presidential election revealed a slight increase in the amount of coverage and a decline in the coverage of policy matters compared to 4 years earlier. Barack Obama received the most positive coverage recorded for any major party nominee on network television since the Center for Media and Public Affairs started analyzing election news content in 1988. The tonal gap between the Democratic and Republican nominees was also the largest recorded over the past six presidential elections. The one-sided coverage on ABC, CBS, and NBC was in sharp contrast to the …

The 2008 Us Presidential Campaign As Represented In The Online Edition Of The Korea Times, Sherri L. Ter Molen

Communication Faculty Research Publications

Because public opinion has been found to influence government policy (Page & Shapiro, 1983, p. 185) and because media are cultural products that “mirror society” and “contribute to the reconstruction of the culture” (Czarniawska, 2006, p. 250), I conducted a rhetorical analysis of the coverage of the 2008 US presidential campaign in the online edition of the English language newspaper, The Korea Times. Using Entman’s (2007) concept of framing bias in the media as a means to influence the distribution of power, I found that The Korea Times used the deictic expression ‘we’ to express and (re)construct nationalistic views of …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 85, No. 49, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. Articles:

• Wilson, Laurel. Tuition Hike Limited to 5 Percent
• Wilson, Laurel. Halftime Adjustments: Gary Ransdell Reflects as Administrative Changes Bring Transition
• Harris, Shakia. Regents Approve New Programs – Art History, Asian Religions & Cultures, Organizational Leadership, Water Resource Management
• Duvall, Tessa. Community Colleges Pledge to Improve Graduation Rates – Kentucky Community & Technical College System, KCTCS
• Kasnic, Dave. A Thousand Words – Nell Ferguson, Jamboree Barn, Rosine, Kentucky, Bluegrass
• Duvall, Tessa. Land Sale Approved for Greek Village – Regents, Planning, Design & Construction, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu
• Simpson, …

Is “Fake News” The New News? The Effect Of “The Daily Show” On Media And Political Knowledge, Heather Avenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

One can hardly argue the impact that “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” have had on popular culture. But do these shows also hold an impact on journalism and political knowledge? In other words, are “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” reasonable sources of news? Using data gathered by the Pew Research Center in April of 2008, and by myself through a survey of Bemidji State University students enrolled in political science courses, I attempt to answer the following questions: Are people who watch either “The Daily Show” or “Colbert Report” more informed than their counterparts? Do people who watch …

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Ballot Initiative And Voter Turnout, Shayne Henry

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

“Know Thy Neighbor,” a public interest group established in 2005, has grabbed headlines in recent years for making public (or threatening to make public) the names of hundreds of thousands of registered voters who signed petitions qualifying anti-gay rights measures for state general election ballots in Massachusetts, Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, and Washington. These names, together with the mailing addresses, birthdates, and dates of signature for each signer, have long been public information in most states, but never before have they been put into a format (i.e., searchable, online databases) making them easy to access and analyze. In this pilot project, …

The Unity Of Division: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Selected Speeches From Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign, Reymond Levy

Department of Writing and Communication Theses

No abstract provided.

Will The Real Elena Kagan Please Stand Up? Conflicting Public Images In The Supreme Court Confirmation Process, Keith J. Bybee

Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media at Syracuse University

What images of judging did the Kagan confirmation process project?

My response to this question begins with a brief overview of existing public perceptions of the Supreme Court. I argue that a large portion of the public sees the justices as impartial arbiters who can be trusted to rule fairly. At the same time, a large portion of the public also sees the justices as political actors who are wrapped up in partisan disputes. Given these prevailing public views, we should expect the Kagan confirmation process to transmit contradictory images of judicial decisionmaking, with a portrait of judging as a …

0777: Kenneth Hechler Papers, 1958-1976, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Personal family papers, photographs and correspondence. Includes research material for Hechler's book, "The Bridge at Remagen". Also includes campaign material for Congressional races, West Virginia Secretary of State and a bid for the governorship of West Virginia.

America's Role In The World, Jason Edwards

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Policy Issues In Presidential Speeches And The Media: An Agenda-Setting Study, Jessica L. Hughes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For decades, researchers have maintained that the president has a significant role in setting the policy-making agenda. In this study, a grounded theory approach was applied to determine President George W. Bush's success in focusing the media's attention toward policies mentioned in his State of the Union Addresses (2002-2008). Bush's issue priorities were determined by coding individual paragraphs as themes. To identify the frequency of these same themes in the media, the front pages of The L.A. Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post were analyzed one week before and after each address. Coding was limited to every …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 84, No. 46, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. Articles:

• Barczak, Mary. All Smiles, Kevin Smiley Wins Student Government Association Election
• Shay, Meg. I Won’t Give Up – James Neighbors, Homelessness
• Howerton, Christina. Universities Feel Pain of Recession
• Barczak, Mary. Clubs Suffer from Money Problems – Sister 2 Sister
• Pajares, Elio. A Thousand Words – Melissa Blankenship, Baptist Campus Ministry
• Hale, Marianne. Tea Party Protest Draws Larger Crowd Than Expected
• Tobin, Whitley. Phresh Pham to Host Open Mic Night
• Erskine, Anne. Editorial Cartoon re: Pedestrian Safety
• Exercise Some Crosswalk Courtesy
• Hughey, Aaron. The Problem with Standardized Tests
• Dooper, …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 84, No. 38, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. Articles:

• Barczak, Mary. South Campus Wants Voice on Student Government Association
• Stewart, Colleen. Eastern Rhythms – Talkproject, Cultural Enhancement Series
• Moore, Josh. Western Releases New Energy Policy
• Diamond, Kala. A Thousand Words – Toynnia Dye, LifeSkills, John Fleenor
• Ulber, Emily. Freshman Dies in Car Accident – DuWayne Northey
• Hale, Marianne. Tuition Increase Percentage May Be Lowest in 20 Years
• Erskine, Anne. Editorial Cartoon: I’m Gonna Milk This Cash Cow for All It’s Worth – NCAA, Basketball
• NCAA Puts Revenue Before the Fans
• Hayes, Nathan. Students for Concealed Carry on …

Inaugural Address: The Use Of Rhetoric To Speak To Our Needs, Jessica Christiansen

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.