Date of Defense

4-22-2020

Date of Graduation

11-2020

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

J. Kevin Corder

Second Advisor

Peter Wielhouwer

Third Advisor

John Clark

Abstract

How do voters react to political scandal, especially when a like-minded partisan is involved? We look to answer that question by utilizing the concept of self-monitoring. Before collecting the data, expectations were that high self-monitors would identify as an independent when exposed to the partisan political scandal. But, when presented with a non-partisan political scandal, high self-monitors would feel more comfortable identifying as their own partisanship. This study offers mixed results. We found that high self-monitors had the only meaningful differences, and low self-monitors did not display significant differences across the versions. The Republican scandal yielded the most meaningful response, with the lowest number of Republican self-identifiers. By studying how political scandal affects voters, we can draw broader conclusions about the impact of outside information on elections. Are individuals likely to sway their vote upon hearing about political scandal, or will they remain loyal to their partisanship no matter what?

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

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