American Politics Commons^™

Western Student Association Structure And Governing Processes: Evaluating Success For Student Government Associations, Samuel Longlet

Honors Theses

The Western Student Association underwent several reforms between March of 2020 and April of 2025. These reforms included expanding its legislative branch both in terms of pure size and internal responsibility and restructuring its executive branch to focus more on building relationships with the administration of Western Michigan University.

The Western Student Association between 2020 and 2025 has become more successful in advocating, allocating, and being a shared governance partner, representing the three executive functions of a Student Government Association.

While the Western Student Association is more successful in 2025 than it was in 2020, the institutional weaknesses of an …

Votes In The Balance: A Statistical Analysis Of Voting Behavior In The 2016 Presidential Election, Evan M. Carter

Harding Undergraduate Research Conference

The 2016 Presidential Election was unprecedented in its results. The predicted winner, Hillary Clinton, ended up winning the popular vote, but lost in the Electoral College count to Donald Trump. I examine voting for the winner, Donald Trump, and what factors caused people to vote for him or for another candidate. Although there are several factors that go into how people vote, I analyze demographic, geographic, and ideological predictors for why people voted the way they did. To do this, I will run a regression model on my dataset. Since my dependent variable is dichotomous, meaning there are only two …

Navigating Modernity: Political And Economic Shifts In The Nineteenth Cenutry, Austin Delsontro, Andrew Cox

Chronicles: Journal Of History

No abstract provided.

From Rhetoric To Reality: The U.S. Republican Party's Shifting Stance On Immigration, Greyson Thagard

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

The Republican Party has experienced a well-documented ideological shift towards the right in the 21st century. However, significant attention has not been granted to the causes and consequences of this shift on rhetoric surrounding immigration. As immigration has become a polarizing topic in recent years, it is important to understand how the Republican Party has transformed regarding the issue. It is also important to understand what contributed to this shift. In this paper, I analyzed Republican Party platforms from 2008 to 2024 as well as selected speeches from prominent Party members at the Republican National Convention from 2008 to 2024. …

Women's Suffrage In The Cedar Valley: Professionalism And Women's Activism At The Iowa State Teachers College, 1860-1920, Amber Hoodjer

INSPIRE Student Research and Engagement Conference

This presentation is titled “Women’s Suffrage in the Cedar Valley: Professionalism and Women’s Activism at the Iowa State Teachers College, 1876-1920” because in it, I will discuss the culture on the ISTC campus, attitudes towards suffrage, and how ISTC’s activism was connected to the larger community.

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 …

Resilience Against Neglect

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

Violence And Artistic Resistance, Tucker Brown

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

Cointelpro's Assassination Of Fred Hampton

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

Flourish, Chanel Perez

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

Uncovering The Covered, Matthew Ouellette

The Civil Rights Movement (HIS/BLS 347) Zine Project

No abstract provided.

The Black Voice, Anisha Smith

Posters - 2025

With the current state of the country my research provides an overview of what respondents in 2020 felt about racial issues. Mainly focusing on comparing Black respondents to other races.

Does Name, Image, And Likeness Increase Gender Inequality In College Athletics?, Aimee Christenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In June of 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted its first interim policy regarding Name, Image, and Likeness. From here, college athletes have been able to benefit from opportunities regarding their brand as an athlete. While this development has been historic in its expansion of rights to athletes, it highlights the inequities between male and female athletes. Title IX requires equal opportunity for male and female students. This research raises questions about whether NIL is increasing the disparity between male and female athletes. To answer this question, I looked at NIL data collected by Kyle Ems on the NIL …

The New Antebellum: A Sociological Interpretation Of Christian Nationalism And Its Danger To Both Christianity And American Democracy, Paige R. Dickerman

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

Hate and fear have become the new American identity, plaguing social media platforms and legislation as it drips from the mouths of the citizenry. The nation has been torn apart by polarization in a continuation of the division and extremist ideology that has tormented generations of Americans since its founding. Today, Christian nationalism is at the forefront of division and extremism in its idea of a new America, defined by traditionalism, biblical law, and an end to our taken-for-granted democratic processes. Its proponents insist that America’s survival depends on Christian laws and national observance, a claim that hides the truth …

Res Historica, Volume 4, Lynneth Miller Renberg Phd, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta

Res Historica

The 2025 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg, Samuel Sanders, and Julia Ackerman. The cover art for this volume is an open access image.

Holding Ground In The Cerulean Tide: Minority Party Legislators' Strategies For Advancing Climate Policies In Landslide States, Sukjae Lee

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation addresses a key puzzle: Why do states sometimes adopt nationally polarized policies, such as climate change legislation, even when doing so does not align with strict partisan interests? The analysis focuses on “landslide states,” where a single party overwhelmingly dominates, and the minority party cannot realistically expect to gain a majority. In these environments, reduced partisan conflict allows minority party legislators to break from traditional partisan paths. As a result, I argue that electoral motivations drive them to signal moderation by advancing liberal policy agendas or incorporating provisions that minimize backlash from their core constituents in landslide states. …

Do Political Party Voter Contact & Gotv Efforts Increase Voter Turnout?, Cody Gunsalus

Political Science Theses and Capstones

While the disconnect between potential voters and those who represent them has grown, parties have spent billions of dollars and millions of hours on voter contact. My question is how effective is pre-election voter contact in increasing voter turnout? What party is most effective at voter turnout? Does the impact of voter contact differ based on education? Is it more effective depending upon age or gender? And how has it changed over time? To address these questions, I analyze National Election Studies (NES) data. The NES has surveyed the national electorate in every national election since 1948. Preliminary analysis has …

The Impact Of American Politics On Canadian Voters, Reilly Funk

Political Science Theses and Capstones

I analyze to what degree American political forces shape Canadian elections. Due to the unique economic and cultural relationship between the countries, U.S. political and policy changes impact the Canadian political landscape. I examine this relationship with a comparative study using the Canadian Election Study of the 2021 federal election. This data enables analysis of voter behaviour within a wide variety of voters. Tentative findings show that major political events within the United States, such as presidential elections and major policy shifts, have a major impact on election results in Canada. Canadian political parties consistently adjust their messaging strategies to …

Deportation And Immigration Enforcement In The United States: Analysis Of Regional And Country Variations, Exmond Ofori Sarpiah

Political Science Theses and Capstones

This study examines the motivations behind President Trump’s mass deportation policies due to the inflow of undocumented migrants from different regions in America. The study employs data visualization techniques, such as scatter plot and bar charts, to analyze regional and country variation trends in migrant removals and undocumented populations across global regions.

Campaign Finance Reform At The State Level, Darren Borsini

School of Public Policy Capstones

Should restrictions on campaign financing in the United States be laissez-faire or stringent? This debate has been had at levels as high as the Supreme Court and as wide as the legislative chambers of all fifty states. This paper aims to create a broader understanding of campaign finance reform at the state level. Specifically, this paper analyzes state-level data on campaign finance reform adoption, educational attainment, and partisan lean to determine the strength of correlations between these variables. Additionally, this paper utilizes expert knowledge gained through interviews focused on campaign finance reform with a former FPPC chair and a California …