Models and Methods Commons^™

The 2022 Arkansas Gubernatorial Election And The Impact Of High-Profile Conservative Women On Gender Perceptions, Frances Delacey

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

How does the presence of a high-profile female candidate impact citizen gender perceptions about women in politics, specifically conservative candidates? Studies aimed at finding which common identities voters will align with, whether it be gender or political party, have found that voters will be more likely to align with their party rather than gender. In The Clinton Effect? The (Non)Impact of a High-Profile Candidate on Gender Stereotypes it was found that voters primed for Clinton did not experience a difference in gender perceptions as compared to those not primed. Voters still carry biased views as they define appropriate attributes of …

A Gateway To Housing Discrimination: A St. Louis Case Study To Identify Home Loan Denial Rates Among Black And White Citizens, Emily Schlichtig

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project seeks to investigate residential segregation and the reasons that it still occurs within the United States. The presence of residential segregation demonstrates how the 14^th amendment is being underutilized. Currently, there is a lack of research that points to home loan denial rates among black citizens compared to white citizens as a reason for residential segregation occurring. This paper includes a St. Louis case study to identify home loan denial rates between races and arguments for why those loan denial rates cause residential segregation. The disparities in the loan denial rates do not allow blacks an option …

Why Do Americans Report A Greater Fear Of Government Restrictions On Firearms Than In Years Prior?, Ethan Oppenheim

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In recent years, studies have shown that support for increased gun control legislation has decreased to its lowest point in nearly a decade and yearly gun sales have approached record numbers. Statistical data found in the Chapman Survey of American Fears suggests that over the past three years, the percentage of Americans who fear government restrictions on firearms has dramatically increased. In this project, I examine this dramatic shift in sentiments and identify the racial, ethnic, and religious demographics which are driving these evolving sentiments on firearm regulations. Upon observing responses given in the most recent survey as well as …

Designing Democracy: A Normative And Empirical Analysis Of Redistricting Reform, Morgan Deckert

Honors Theses

A democracy is more than just an empirically observable mode of governance; it is an actively adopted ideal, an inherently value-laden concept that affects and permeates throughout all dimensions of society. It encompasses corresponding rights held by all democratic citizens, and various state obligations that arise directly from this unique status. As political institutions and practices are given tangible form in a democracy, these moral principles provide both a mandatory set of requirements and an ideal to be oriented towards in their construction. In majoritarian systems with single-member districts, the establishment of electoral boundaries through redistricting is one such process. …

Reformation Within The Nation: Adapting The Nordic Rehabilitation And Reintegration Model To Positively Recondition The United States Criminal Justice System, Jessica Cornell

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

An analytical and statistical based comparison of criminal sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegration in the United States of America to those of the five countries which follows those of the Nordic Criminal Justice System.

Mental Health In Massachusetts Prisons, Jeffrey Yung

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

In November of last year, former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division released the findings of an investigation of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MDOC). They found several violations of prisoner’ constitutionals rights for mental health cases under the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments for criminal defendants. The findings reveal a lack of structured mental health care for MDOC prisoners, untrained employees, and unnecessary abuse of restrictive housing for prisoners designated under a mental health watch program.

Monuments Of Folly: The Persistence Of He Lost Cause At The University Of South Carolina, Sean Dedmon

Senior Theses

The recent controversies surrounding the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments has sparked increased interest understanding why many people, particularly in the South, celebrate the Confederate States of America. This thesis seeks to better understand the motivations and emotions behind the persistence of the Lost Cause among students at the University of South Carolina. This study utilizes both deep textual readings and sentiment analysis to analyze student-published newspaper articles printed in The Gamecock from 1960-2006 and survey responses from current University of South Carolina students to capture the scope and history of belief in the Lost Cause at the University of …

Smoke Filled Back Hollars: The Impact Of Traditional Barbecue On Modern Political Campaigns Within Western Virginia, Monica Thomas Fury

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The first political barbecue took place in Virginia during the Colonial period. Since then, barbecue has remained an essential part of American civic life. Western Virginia, defined for the purposes of this thesis as the political borders of the sixth and ninth Congressional Districts in Virginia as drawn in 2021, is largely a rural area, considered by most political consultants to be heavily Republican and not winnable seats for Democratic candidates. The state Democratic Party of Virginia has rarely earmarked funds or support for candidates within those districts for the past two decades. Ironically, the Democratic party controlled this same …

The Long Red Thread : How Democratic Dominance Gave Way To Republican Advantage In Us House Elections, Kyle Kondik

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

An incisive study that shows how Republicans transformed the US House of Representatives into a consistent GOP stronghold—with or without a majority.

Long-term Democratic dominance in the US House of Representatives gave way to a Republican electoral advantage and frequently held majority following the GOP takeover in 1994. Republicans haven’t always held the majority in recent decades, but nationalization, partisan realignment, and the gerrymandering of House seats have contributed to a political climate in which they've had an edge more often than not for nearly thirty years.

The Long Red Thread examines each House election cycle from 1964 to 2020, …

Illegal Abortion: Truth Vs. Fiction, Andrew Looker, Jr.

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Abortion has remained one of the most contentious issues in American political discourse ever since the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. Numerous emotional, statistical, and even Biblical arguments have been formulated in debates over this topic. However, arguably the two most common assertions are that thousands of women perished due to unsafe abortions prior to Roe v. Wade, and that laws restricting or outlawing abortion are ineffective in reducing abortion rates. As an example, former President of Planned Parenthood Leana Wen made the following claim in May 2019: “Before Roe v. …

An Inferentially Robust Look At Two Competing Explanations For The Surge In Unauthorized Migration From Central America, Nick Santos

Dissertations

The last 8 years have seen a dramatic increase in the flow of Central American apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol. Explanations for this surge in apprehensions have been split between two leading hypotheses. Most academic scholars, immigrant advocates, progressive media outlets, and human rights organizations identify poverty and violence (the Poverty and Violence Hypothesis) in Central America as the primary triggers responsible. In contrast, while most government officials, conservative think tanks, and the agencies that work in the immigration and border enforcement realm admit poverty and violence may underlie some decisions to migrate, they instead blame lax U.S. immigration …

Predicting And Measuring Support For Populism, Jay Rumas

Senior Honors Projects

Through reading the most recent research and case examples, I have discovered that the conventional wisdom on how political actors appeal to voters is rather obsolete. I have done my best to establish a profile of the “populist voter” and predict which parties they may be inclined to support. Cas Mudde, an expert on populist movements, labels populism as the use of a narrative that constructs the struggle of “the people (the majority) vs “the elite'' for political purposes. It has neither a positive or negative connotation. Populist movements often appeal to those among groups that feel as though they …

Best Practices For Voter Engagement Within Higher Education, Alyssa Tomins

Honors Projects

It is imperative that higher education institutions learn more about how to recruit members of younger generations to participate in future elections. Young people have historically voted at low rates, but that trend has started to change in recent years as more resources are being devoted to voter engagement among young people. This leads to the interest of understanding what best practices and strategies have academic institutions utilized to advance voter engagement on their campuses. This qualitative study analyzes these best practices and strategies at 84 colleges and universities, all of whom are members of The Andrew Goodman Foundation Vote …

Aiming To Misfire: Intentional Bias And Its Relationship With Polling Error, Tyler Redmon

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

With growing public dissatisfaction with election polling, finding the source of polling error is key to resolving common frustrations. Many things have been blamed for recent polling misses but the method by which polls are conducted deserved a closer look. This paper seeks to find that source of error through polling conducted in the 2020 Presidential election. This paper shows that polling error at the national level can be attributed to intentional bias but there remain questions when it comes to state polling.

Ghost Of Populism: Haunting The Demos In Democracy, Chloe A. Bidne

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Several recent elections demonstrate voters across advanced industrial economies support candidates with a populist agenda. We observe this phenomenon, for example, in the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States as well as across the Atlantic through the majority of voters in the UK favoring the UK Independence Party’s call to leave the European Union and return to a nationally focused agenda through Brexit. Europe allows us to be vividly aware of voter support for populist agendas through their multi-party systems, which include political parties who openly and explicitly claim a populist agenda, such as the …

Factor Analysis Of Rust Belt And Southern Senate Elections, Ethan Braglio

Ramifications

Analysis of Senate Elections in the Rust Belt and Southern States dating back to 1980. Comparing the variables of incumbency, fundraising and fund spent, partisan lean, party control of the white house, and unemployment’s effect on votes and outcome of Senate elections. Attempts to confirm the literature consensus of fundraising and incumbency as the key factors, while also furthering the field by analyzing the other potential critical factors impact. This paper also looks at multivariate models, second order terms, and interaction analysis to understand the complicated relationship between.

Two distinct regions were chosen to test the variables strength in a …

Advocating For The Law Of Subsidiarity, Braeden T. Fleck

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Today in our nation, a steady rate of increased centralization has contributed to a society that seems fixated on the prospect of personal gain. This has had a direct adverse impact on our nation’s economic growth and efficiency, and has dampened our sense of duty as citizens who are gifted with a government administration that acknowledges constitutional rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The inefficient results of federal government’s political action highlight the ineffectiveness of current procedure. The question then arises, does the principle of subsidiarity when applied to government provide measurable gain for the parties …

Super Pacs And Agenda Setting, Logan Bush

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Several Supreme Court rulings, starting with Buckley v. Valeo and culminating with Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, have created two unequal campaign finance systems: One where party and candidate committees must follow strict fundraising regulations from the Federal Election Commission, and another populated with Super PACs and similar organizations which are allowed to take in unlimited donations. This paper sets out to see if Super PACs, which are freer to operate under the law, have challenged the party and candidate committees’ agenda-setting ability in an election.

Impact Of Covid-19 On The Italian And American Healthcare Systems : A Comparative Assessment, Bita Pejam, Jennifer Lam

All Reports

This report aims to examine and assess the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on the healthcare systems of the United States of America and Italy; two of the most heavily affected nations. Using data from December 2019 to January 2021, several consultations, and policy reviews, we identify risks and notable areas of issue in each nations’ approach to combating the virus. We focus our report particularly on the health policies and the governmental structures in place that contributed to each nations’ initial method of alleviating the impact of COVID-19. Our report compares the two healthcare systems and proposes a …

Voter Rationality In The United States, Asael Marvel

Honors Program Theses

The decade preceding 2020 has brought into question the political rationality of the average American voter, as it seems many individuals may vote against what is best for themselves. This begs a simple question, are American voters voting in their won rational self-interest, this project looks into a myriad of theories on voter rationality and the processes behind how voters may calculate or come to their voter decisions in an election in order to answer these questions. Then using the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Survey creates a method to analyze whether a specific group within the US is voting rationally, …

Neither “Post-War” Nor Post-Pregnancy Paranoia: How America’S War On Drugs Continues To Perpetuate Disparate Incarceration Outcomes For Pregnant, Substance-Involved Offenders, Becca S. Zimmerman

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the unique interactions between pregnancy, substance involvement, and race as they relate to the War on Drugs and the hyper-incarceration of women. Using ordinary least square regression analyses and data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, I examine if (and how) pregnancy status, drug use, race, and their interactions influence two length of incarceration outcomes: sentence length and amount of time spent in jail between arrest and imprisonment. The results collectively indicate that pregnancy decreases length of incarceration outcomes for those offenders who are not substance-involved but not evenhandedly -- benefitting white …

Don't Change The Subject: How State Election Laws Can Nullify Ballot Questions, Cole Gordner

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Procedural election laws regulate the conduct of state elections and provide for greater transparency and fairness in statewide ballots. These laws ensure that the public votes separately on incongruous bills and protects the electorate from uncertainties contained in omnibus packages. As demonstrated by a slew of recent court cases, however, interest groups that are opposed to the objective of a ballot question are utilizing these election laws with greater frequency either to prevent a state electorate from voting on an initiative or to overturn a ballot question that was already decided in the initiative’s favor. This practice is subverting the …

The Effects Of Racial Capitalism On Poor White Laborers, Amy Whittaker

Liberal Studies (MA) Final Essays

While always remembering that racial capitalism’s very nature ensures that non-white Americans suffer incomparable racial oppression, this paper will endeavor to expose the devastation caused to American society as a whole by explaining the ways in which racial capitalism destroyed poor white labors ability to participate fully in the economic system and strangled its chances of living the American dream. It is my hope that by discussing the missing piece of the poor white laborers’ experience under racial capitalism will unite poor white laborers and poor black laborers to work together to end racial capitalism, policing, and the carceral system. …

Early Voting Versus Election Day Voting: Identifying Individual Indicators Of Election Stage Participation In Louisiana Elections, 2015-2016, Anthony Licciardi Jr.

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Does early voting advance the democratic process in achieving political equality? Does it create more equity in the representativeness of an electorate? According to rational choice and economic theory, the expanded opportunity to vote should reduce an individual’s cost to vote, thus resulting in higher voter turnouts where traditionally marginalized voters will take advantage of early voting opportunities.

This research conducts an individual-level analysis of more than five-million voter cases over four consecutive Louisiana statewide elections of all individuals who voted in each of the elections from 2015 to 2016. These elections include the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a …

Political Ideology And Media Consumption, Andrew Robinson

Georgia College Student Research Events

Politics is a far reaching phenomenon that, in essence, controls everything that we do in our daily lives without us even realizing it most of the time, and it is constantly evolving and changing to fit the narrative of the age. In this modern world, we see an increase in political radicalization, especially in the United States. Politics has become more of a social experience than a set of beliefs, with some going so far as to incorporate it into their personal identity and seek and find the ideas that best fit them. This research analyzes the effect that a …

How News Media Coverage Of Crises Promotes Conspiracy Beliefs, Richard L Kornrumpf

Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase

While scholars of conspiracy theories have recently made great strides in understanding the basic nature and correlates of conspiratorial thinking, we still know little about how conspiracy beliefs are disseminated and communicated, especially when it comes to traditional media. Here we use a unique experiment to investigate whether media coverage of mass shootings – complete with the uncertainty, conflicting reports, and dubious official narratives that characterize such coverage – provides the raw material for conspiracy theories and promotes conspiracy beliefs among viewers. We find that implicit conspiratorial information – that which causes confusion and foments uncertainty – does not enflame …

Political Centrism, Perspective Taking, And Outgroup Derogation: An Integrated Model, David Kesler

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The relationship between perspective taking abilities, political centrism, and outgroup derogation is not defined at this time. While previous research has demonstrated a negative relationship between political centrism and outgroup derogation (Van Prooijen, Krouwel, Boiten, & Eendebak, 2015), the relationship between the other variables is unclear. Therefore, the current study sought to measure the relationship between (1) perspective taking abilities and political centrism, (2) perspective taking and outgroup derogation, (3) political centrism and outgroup derogation and lastly, (4) whether the relationship between perspective taking abilities and political outgroup derogation would be mediated by an individual's level of political centrism.

Gun Control In The United States, Oliver Lake

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper focuses on a critical issue that has plagued our nation for many years. It has been one of the most divisive issues outside of abortion. The topic of gun control and how to approach it brings out two highly emotional and passionate sides. Despite the emotions that may flare up, it is important to remain objective on the facts. By taking into full consideration the arguments and research provided by gun control activists and gun rights activists, a silver lining is found that provides the answers the country has been looking for years. I do this by seeking …

The Impact Of Prescription Drug Prices On Voting Patterns, Brendan Mohan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will focus on estimating the amount of voters that are affected by prescription drugs overpricing, as well as studying and analyzing the history of prescription drug pricing in the United States. This research project will also help predict how the overpricing of prescription drug prices impacted voting patterns in the previous election and how it will impact the future 2020 Election. Information in this study was gathered through a number of governmental documents and websites, non-partisan survey organizations, and previous studies conducted relating to this topic in order to formulate a model to show previous and possible future …

Healthy And Unhealthy Responses To American Democratic Institutional Failure, Thomas D'Anieri

CMC Senior Theses

I have set out on the hunch that politics in America “feels different,” that we are frustrated both with our institutions as well as with one another. First, I will seek to empirically verify this claim beyond mere “feelings.” If it can be shown that these kinds of discontent genuinely exist to the extent that I believe they do, I will then explain why people feel this way and why things are different this time from the economic, political, and social points of view. Next, I will examine two potential responses, what I will call the populist and the institutional …