American Politics Commons^™

Particularism Vs. Entrepreneurialism: President Obama And Race To The Top, Jodi A. Hoalst

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis compares two contending political science theories about why presidents use their unilateral authority as I investigate whether President Obama acted as an entrepreneurial president or a particularistic president when awarding grants to states through the Race to the Top competition. To do so, I evaluate the 12 winning states in two areas. First, I analyze how each of the states ranked nationally in the Editorial Projects in Education Quality Counts Report 2009 and then determine whether each of the winning states needed education reform policies. If so, then it is likely the Obama Administration was acting in a …

Personal Economics And Political Ideology, Derrick Hill

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

While plenty of evidence suggests prospective and retrospective sociotropic economic voting happens in the electorate, it is hard to find evidence that supports prospective economic voting based on personal economic forecasts. Furthermore, it has been argued that the Republican Party is able to attract poor and working class individuals because of their conservative position on social issues. This research looks at the relationship between pocketbook prospective economic beliefs and ideological sentiments. I find that individuals who are optimistic about their personal economic future are more likely to be conservative, and that this personal optimism has a greater impact on ideology …

The Trouble With Transitions: Preserving Government Records During A Presidential Transition, Sarah C. Slinger, Nicholas Mignanelli

Scholarly Works

Times of transition from administration to administration are often, if not always, trying periods for the United States and its people. In particular, concerns arise over the preservation of documents from one administration to the next. This is especially true when the torch of executive power passes from one party to the other. Although preservation of information is a seemingly objective endeavor, it is difficult to abstain from politics when the documents involved are inherently political. Recently, the Trump Administration has expressed its intentions to scale back the size of government and take key offices—such as the Department of Energy—in …

The Influence Of Threatened State Preemption On City Council Voting Behavior And Municipal Broadband, Dillon P. Corbridge

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between city and state government has been contentious at times throughout American history. Cities only have the legal authority granted to them by state government, yet many cities have cause to seek policy that may not be in the interest of those who govern the state. Leaders of American states may choose to preempt municipal authority by removing the legal power of a city to perform certain actions. While preemption provides states with a tool for regulating the policies and practices that cities may pursue, it is unclear whether city leaders act cautiously to avoid preemption, or instead …

The New Right: The Blue-Collar Ideological Shift Towards A Conservative Populism, Julia Detmer

3690: A Journal of First-Year Student Research Writing

Overview: “Make America Great Again” the populist rally cry of the 2016 Election was championed by none other than now President Donald J. Trump. His appeal to the populist blue-collar working class was shocking to some, but historically not unexpected. His promise to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States by having “fair trade” resonated with the disenfranchised working class who felt once again left out politically, socially, and economically by the government and its seemingly progressive state. This promise however was not original. Ronald Reagan, the Republican “messiah” campaigned on this saying, attempting to restore hope in the …

The Woman Card: Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential Campaign As A Case Study On America's Gendered Politics And Their Impact On Female Presidential Campaign Efficacy, Skylar Mcclain

Senior Theses

I posit that the gendered American cultural expectations for women, although they are not as rigid as they once were, inhibited the efficacy of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and impacted voter behavior. By assessing the indicators most commonly used in gender stereotypes; personality traits, domestic behaviors, occupations, and physical appearance, it is possible to construct a realistic portrait of Clinton’s public gender persona and the resulting electoral response.

Politics, Technology, And Libertarianism, Thomas J. Perry

Honors Projects

In recent years, technology has started to play a major role in the U.S. political climate. Specifically, it has created a platform for outside groups, such as libertarians, to have their voices heard. This brought forward an important research question: How has technology helped or hindered the ability of individually focused libertarians to organize for collective action? Through the exploration of previous research, two major findings are discovered: 1) technology and the growth of individualism in politics are intertwined and 2) technology and individualism both have ties to libertarianism. The implications of libertarianism are analyzed further through the study of …

The American Political Mindset: The Relationship Of Exceptionalism And Cynicism In Public Opinion, Anya Kaiser 3068310

Honors Projects

This research investigates the pervasiveness of both political cynicism and American exceptionalism within American society. Throughout history, there has been an interaction between the public's feelings of American exceptionalism and cynicism in the United States, starting at the nation’s founding and continuing into recent times (Chaloupka, 1999). As an inter-disciplinary and mixed-methods study, this research utilizes both a nationally representative quantitative data-set and a qualitative analysis of Allen Ginsberg’s (1959) poem “America,” a cultural representation of the relationship between American exceptionalism and cynicism. Using the American National Election Studies’ 2012 survey on trust in government (N = 5,914), I examine …

Analyzing The Effects Of Preprimary Broadcast Media On Presidential Nominations From 1980-2016, Jarred Ralston Cuellar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to discover if broadcast media released during the preprimary period has an effect on the Presidential nomination process, and if so in what way? Several OLS regression models, based on Randall Adkins and Andrew Dowdle’s Presidential nomination forecasting models, were created as an attempt to not only find a statistically significant effect between broadcast media and aggregate vote percentage, but also in an effort to create more effective forecasts. I have drawn my sample from every open nomination race dating back to 1980, and used both cable and network broadcasting sources. I have covered not only the …

The Trump Presidency, Ethan Johnson

Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

I was asked to discuss my thinking about the Trump candidacy and presidency, which is no small task. I told Jaime I would discuss this issue through the lens of racism and sexism. As a scholar and teacher of the Black Experience in the United States, Latin America and Europe I almost always begin my thinking through my personal, educational and research experiences. So, that is what I am going to do here. I would like to start out stating that Trump’s election is no aberration within American politics. His election fits very well within both the colonial history of …

The Vicious Cycle Of Mass Polarization And Fear: A Pilot Program Using Comedy And Dialogue To Leverage Political Polarities, Zoë A. Hayman

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

United States polarization has shifted from simple Congressional stalemate to a state of political warfare. While there is debate in the literature as to whether this attitude polarization is mirrored among the general public, the research is clear that American perceptions of their political opposition is marked by fear and animosity (Pew Research Center, 2016). The Impolitic program aims to intervene in this cycle using comedy to reduce anxiety and encourage participation, and dialogue to build understanding and shift relationships among politically divergent participants. This paper details the system of polarization in which Impolitic seeks to intervene, the guiding leadership …

Cement Of Our Union: Hamilton, The Treasury, And The Federalist Party, Andrea Jones

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the impact of Alexander Hamilton and the policies he proposed and implemented as Secretary of the Treasury on the emergence and rise of the Federalist Party. This was achieved both by examination of the content of Hamilton’s financial plans as well as the responses they provoked. Both the support of fellow Federalists and the opposition of those who eventually became the Democratic-Republicans provide insight into the forces driving the partisan split. Information was drawn from both primary and secondary sources, including the writings of Hamilton and his contemporaries as well as subsequent studies of his life and …

How Trump Won: Media And The Silent Majority In The 2016 Us Presidential Election, Joshua K. Miller

Senior Honors Theses

Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign ended in victory because of two powerful forces: enormous media advantage gained through sensationalism and a strong coalition made up of evangelicals, pragmatic conservatives, and the silent majority. The work of Neil Postman sheds light on the underlying cultural foundation of Trump’s media advantage. Parallels from the video game industry explain how intentional sensationalism played into Trump’s success in the primary process. Evangelicals and pragmatic conservatives joined Trump’s coalition in spite of his scandals, and Eric Hoffer’s work helps explain his appeal to the silent majority. Ultimately, the patterns of Trump’s victory yield significant learning …

And That's The Word: Effects Of The Colbert Report On Political Knowledge And Participation, Nicholas Canfield

Student Research – Stevenson Center

The Colbert Report was a satirical, political, and “fake” news show that lasted for almost a decade on the Comedy Central Network. Although many scholars have argued the program was less impactful and influential than Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, phenomena such as the “Colbert Bump” show a definite impact on the political lives of many Americans. Using four quantitative surveys from 2008 to 2012, this thesis investigates the effects of watching The Colbert Report on individuals’ political knowledge and political participation. Results indicate non-Republican viewers increased their political knowledge, but not participation, from watching the show. The educational …

The Escalation Of Trump Stormfront And The 2016 Election, Dianne Dentice

Symposium on Arts and Research

Since David Duke ran for public office and was elected to the Louisiana state legislature in 1989, leaders of the far political right have been trying to gain a foothold in mainstream electoral politics. In a campaign tinged with populist rhetoric, Donald Trump emerged victorious in the 2016 election. What does this mean for the American white nationalist movement?

Foreign Policy Brief: North Korean Nuclear Weapons, Jacob Chobanian

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

This paper is a brief on the current situation involving the United States and North Korea regarding the nuclear weapon controversy and possible war.

Influences On 21st Century Federal Elections, Laura A. Ahrens

Georgia College Student Research Events

Expansive research exists on the topic of American citizens’ participation and behavior related to voting in federal elections. It is clear that multiple variables influence a citizen’s choice to vote and the political direction of that vote. However, there remains room for analyzing American electoral participation since politics and presidential decisions are increasingly shaping daily life activities. In this paper, I critically analyze the dependent variables of whether or not American respondents voted in the 2012 federal election, and if so how they voted for the presidential candidate. Additionally, I utilize logistic regression to examine whether there is a significant …

Influences On History, Caleb Robb, Emily Ellison, Sarah Hornstein, Mays Salama, Clare Hamilton

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Panel Chair: Angela Payne

Papers Presented:

"The Humble Essense of America (A Research Paper on Ben Carson)" by Caleb Robb

"The Passing of Hettie Jones: Transition of the Harlem Renaissance into the Beat Generation" by Emily Ellison

"Defying the Odds: A Brief Overview of the Life of Alexander Hamilton" by Sarah Hornstein

"To What Extent was Lawrence of Arabia responsible for the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1870-1923)?" by Mays Salama

"MIA in Vietnam: The Life and Death of Lt. Col. Richard Castillo" by Clare Hamilton

Commentary: Will The Courts Make Trump's Presidency Less Imperial?, Allen C. Guelzo, James H. Hulme

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Nearly three months ago, Donald Trump assumed a presidency that, for more than a century, had grown seemingly endless discretionary powers. And he did so in company with Republican majorities in Congress and in 32 state legislatures -- all of which should have made his decisions unassailable.

Instead, he has been stymied and embarrassed by resistance from a federal judiciary that has twice halted executive orders on the most prominent issue of his presidential campaign. So, will the federal judiciary become the wall against which Trump bleeds away the power not just of his own presidency but of the “imperial …

In Solidarity, Musselman Library, Salma Monani, Sarah M. Principato, Dave Powell, Brent C. Talbot, Charles L. Weise, Bruce A. Larson, Scott Hancock, Mckinley E. Melton, David S. Walsh, Jennifer Q. Mccary, Kristina G. Chamberlin

Next Page

This edition of Next Page is a departure from our usual question and answer format with a featured campus reader. Instead, we asked speakers who participated in the College’s recent Student Solidarity Rally (March 1, 2017) to recommend readings that might further our understanding of the topics on which they spoke.