Browsing by Subject "Political parties"
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Item Feeling Trumped: Do Political Actions Have an Effect on Stress Levels?(2019) Shank, Alexis; PsychologyI have conducted research on the connection between political party affiliation and the amount of stress that stems from political actions. I also questioned the connection between politically-rooted stress and activism. Next, I asked if individuals feel discriminated against due to their political party affiliation. Finally, I questioned the connection between levels of activism and locus of control. I constructed an online survey that was completed by 138 participants, of which 63 reported being Democrat, 42 Republican, and 33 Independent. Participants were first asked their political party affiliation and their political leaning. This was followed by the Digital Activism Scale and the Psychological Political Engagement scale (De Marco, Robles, & Antino, 2017). Next was the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (Shirom-Melamed, 2011), and the Short Stress Overload Scale (Amirkhan, 2016). Following was the Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance Locus of Control Scale (Levenson & Miller, 1976), and the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire (Contrada et al., 2001), which was modified to ask about politically-related discrimination. The survey ended with demographic questions. A combination of one-way ANOVA and correlational' tests were used to analyze the data. Analysis showed that Republicans were significantly lower on measures of burnout and stress than Democrats and Independents. When correlating activism with burnout and stress, results showed that Republicans have the strongest correlation between activism and burnout, but Democrats have a stronger correlation between activism and stress. When looking at discrimination based on political party, Democrats faced significantly more devaluing comments than Republicans did. The correlation between activism and locus of control revealed that Democrats had a more significant connection for both internal and external locus. These findings suggest that there is a significant connection between activism and stress. It is also important that we can find a way to de-stress from activism, as well as sharing ideas to decrease burnout. Above all, there needs to be less a political divide between the two parties.Item Heating Up the Media Climate: How Political Media May Affect Public Opinion on Global Climate Change(2019) Chapman, Connor; Political ScienceScholars have focused on level of education, religious affiliation, and region of residence to explain the partisan polarization of climate change. This thesis offers an explanation for the persistence of the belief by a segment of the population of the United States that global climate change does not exist. The central claim is that politically biased media influences public opinion- specifically public opinion on the existence of climate change and I suggest that partisan news actively polarizes the discussion of global climate change. I support this hypothesis with available online polling data and General Social Survey data of people's opinion on climate change, the types of media they consume, and party identification. I find that there is a correlation between the media that one consumes and their opinion on the existence of global climate change, though this correlation is especially pronounced among those who actively consume conservatively biased media and identify with the Republican Party. Results are discussed.Item Polarization of the Courts: "Neutrality Fatality"(2021-04-23) Thayer, Jessica; PhilosophyPolarization is a term we find ourselves quite familiar with these days. While different perspectives can be healthy, our nation has seen a level of divide that has started to destroy the very institutions on which this country was founded. The Framers envisioned the judicial branch to be a neutral arbitrator of the law, apart from the whims and emotions of the people. However, we now have a Supreme Court composed of politics instead of justice and rulings based on political preference rather than on constitutional interpretation. In an effort to save our great judicial institution, legal scholars Daniel Epps and Ganesh Sitaraman have proposed a “balanced bench” solution and legal scholars Roger Cramton and Paul Carrington have proposed a “term limit” solution. While both of these solutions are strong, they are in of need of fine-tuning. In this essay, I refine them to arrive at the best possible solution to the polarization problem.