"This thesis is a study of the Negro voter in Austin, Texas. The writer hopes that the findings of this study will be a valuable addition to our knowledge of the Negro voter in American politics. The thesis certainly does answer pertinent questions about Negro politics in Austin, Texas. What is the attitude of the Austin Negro toward the two major political parties? What are the attitudes of the Negro voter towards Negro political leaders and organizations? What are some of the personal factors which affect who does and who does not vote among Negroes? What is the influence of the poll tax upon the political behavior of the Negro? It is hoped that this study will answer these questions and others concerning Negro political life in Austin."-- leaf 1.

The growth of social media use raises significant questions related to political information and its effect on political knowledge and participation. One issue is whether social media delivers news and political information in a similar manner as traditional news media sources, like newspapers, TV, and radio, by contributing to political knowledge, which is linked to voter turnout. This dissertation examines the relationship between an individual's social media use, their use of traditional news media sources, and whether they turn out to vote. It utilizes American National Election Survey data from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election to complete three studies. First, the dissertation compares people who prefer social media and those who prefer traditional news media sources across as series of political habits and attitudes. Second, it looks at the expansion of the media environment and examines whether a person's social media use and preference for news or entertainment is related to political knowledge and voter participation. Finally, this dissertations examines at whether social media use increases the odds an individual will turn out to vote, thus acting in a similar manner as traditional news media. The results identify differences between people who prefer social media and people who prefer traditional news media sources. In particular, people who prefer social media tend to be younger, have less political knowledge, and have a lower voter turnout rate. However, unlike traditional news media use, the use of social media did not increase the odds an individual turned out to vote in 2016. Further, the use of social media and an individual's content preference of entertainment versus news was not related to political knowledge nor voter turnout. While social media does not appear to have a positive relationship with turnout, it does not appear to discourage a person from voting either. The results suggest that more work needs to be done, including examining the relationship between age, social media use and turnout, as well as how content length may be related to political participation. Finally, further examination is needed of the possible indirect ways social media may be related to voter attitudes and participation.

The Hispanic population in central Texas tends to have low levels of civic engagement as compared to other groups in the same area, which leads to disproportionate political marginalization. Prior research has focused on characteristics of voters and nonvoters, but has failed to explore the lack of political mobilization among Hispanic voters. The purpose of this study was twofold; first to better understand the nature of Hispanic voters' political marginalization, and second, explore why participation levels are so low among this group. This general qualitative study applied critical race theory to explore the barriers perceived by Hispanic voters related to political marginalization that may contribute to low voter participation. Data were collected through interviews with 20 randomly selected Hispanic people residing in central Texas. Interview data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then organized into themes. The key research findings identified 3 themes that potentially explain low civic engagement; a general distrust in government, a deficiency of civics education in the public school system, and specific cultural preferences that may contribute to low levels of participation in voting and politics. Findings also revealed that there is little understanding of the voting process, and few public initiatives to encourage the Hispanic voter community to vote or otherwise engage in participatory democracy. Recommendations to policy makers to promote positive social change include increasing funding for civic education, and creating voter outreach programs. Policy makers and politicians should also seek out ways to build trust in the political process throughout the Hispanic community.

本文的研究主旨在於探討，威權轉型期我國獨立選民的一些特性。就獨立選民的淵源來說，獨立選民是美國政治文化下的特有產物，並且被賦於理想的公民、優秀的公民及理想的民主人等稱號。然而，美國的獨立選民是否如規範論所言，是一理想公民呢？而更重要的是，我國獨立選民的情形是如何呢？這是本文所要探討的主要研究課題。 　　透過此一研究焦點，本文的研究架構如下： 　　第一章：導論的部份，旨在說明研究問題與動機，以及本文所使用選舉調查資料的來源（政大選舉研究中心，民國七十八年三項公職人員選舉），並對這些資料進行檢定。 　　第二章：獨立選民的意義及測量。這一章，首先探討的是獨立選民的意義，其次是探究獨立選民的測量法或研究法，再次是討論與獨立選民息息相關的政黨認同，以及政黨認同所引起的一些問題。最後，我們將對政黨認同、獨立選民在我國的適用性提出討論，並說明本文政黨認同和獨立選民的測量方式。 　　第三章：我國獨立選民的組成及其社會背景分析。這一章，我們將先討論我國政黨認同的分佈以及穩定性，並與其他民主國家做一比較。而此章的第二部份，主要在探討獨立選民的社會背景，而這些社會背景包括有教育、省籍、職業、年齡、主觀社會階層和性別。獨立選民的社會背景分析，除了單一變項的分析外，我們亦以多變項再做深入的探討。 　　第四章：獨立選民的政治涉入。如前述所言，假如獨立選民是一理想公民，則他們的政治涉入應是高的。本章旨在分析我國獨立選民是否比一般選民（政黨認同者）為高，或是如政黨認同理論所說，獨立選民的政治涉入是所有選民中最低者。 　　第五章：獨立選民的政治態度。本章旨在討論獨立選民的政治態度是否比政黨認同者還中立，或者從另外一個角度來說，是否比政黨認同者少有黨派色彩呢？抑或他們對政治態度的反應，是呈現另外一種風貌？假如，獨立選民是一理想公民，則他們的政治態度應是中立或是少黨派的，並且能積極地將他們的態度表現出來。 　　第六章：結論部份。本文的結論，分為二個部份。在第一部份中，我們將對前述的研究做一總結，並據此對我國獨立選民的特性做一簡單的描述。此外，由於本文所用的調查資料距今已有五年了，而我國的政治（政黨）在這其間經歷了相當大的變化，因此本文的最後將討論七十八年後獨立選民的新發展，並論及獨立選民與「新黨」的關係和可能的發展。

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in instances of Republican-dominated state legislatures proposing changes to election law that some see as protecting electoral integrity and others understand as intended to suppress votes of traditionally Democratic constituencies. This thesis is a detailed collection of the rationales used to justify these changes, as examined through a case study of North Carolina’s enactment of the omnibus Voter Information Verification Act of 2013 (VIVA). By also including the arguments proffered during the legislative process by opponents of the law, and after evaluating the merits of the arguments on both sides, I find the rationales used to justify the law’s provisions to be unconvincing and misleading. This study confirms the speculation that new election law restrictions are first and foremost a Republican attempt to gain partisan advantage. Given this conclusion, I offer suggestions as to what factors might eventually shift the current era of election law legislation from one of restrictions, to one focused on creating efficient, accessible, modernized electoral systems that inspire citizen confidence regardless of partisanship.

Que traduit la hausse de la participation aux élections présidentielles françaises de 2007 et américaines 2008 ? À partir d’enquêtes électorales française, américaine et canadienne, notre étude met en lumière les changements d’attitudes politiques des citoyens survenus ces dernières années et la pratique croissante d’une participation intermittente et sélective. Ces changements qui résultent de logiques d’individualisation ont permis aux individus de s’extirper de contraintes d’appartenance sociale et de s’affranchir d’allégeances partisanes. Leur jugement se fonde désormais sur une évaluation des critères de l’offre électorale. L’individualisation des valeurs en politique se traduit notamment par une évolution du sens du vote et une hiérarchisation des scrutins. Les électeurs ne se délaissent pas les élections, ils choisissent simplement de participer autrement. Plus instruits, plus autonomes et plus critiques, ces citoyens prescrivent des changements profonds de l’offre. Afin de rallier le plus grand nombre de suffrages, les candidats se voient contraints d’adapter leurs dispositifs stratégiques aux évolutions des comportements politiques des citoyens : structuration des partis, modernisation des campagnes électorales, militantisme à « la carte », nouvelles formes d’engagement politique, usage de l’Internet. Tout est fait pour que le citoyen individualisé trouve dans ces manières de faire la politique les bonnes raisons de voter. / What does the increase of the voter turnout in the 2007 French and the 2008 American presidential election mean? With the French, American and Canadian surveys, we highlight the changes in the political attitude of the citizens occurred in recent years. The voters are now practicing an intermittent and selective voting. This changing political behavior reflects a growing individualization values in politics. They are making their mind up from an assessment of the electoral issues positions, an evolution of the meaning of the vote and, a priorization of elections. Voters are not leaving the polling stations, they are only choosing to participate in different way. More educated, autonomous and critical, the citizens require deep changes in the political evaluations. So, by winning number of votes, candidates have to adapt their strategical plan of actions by including the individualized behavior of the citizens : structuring the political party, modernizing the electoral campaigns, promoting a membership “à la carte”, developing new forms of political engagement, and using the Internet. Everything is done to increase the individualized citizens vote.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:49:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1104006 bytes, checksum: 879007bf875369542318efa25a8de84a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-08-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The reality of contemporary Western democracies, characterized by the weakening of party identity and the rise of the most natural and the personal qualities of the candidate in the orientation of the elections, provoked new electoral behavior and, consequently, further studies that seek explain these policy changes and the voter's behavior more volatile. Given that the perceived value is a strategic imperative in the 1990s to the producers and retailers and is still of importance today. Since it first entered the concept of strategic management, then expanded to the guidelines geared to the client (focuses on the needs and desires of customers) and for the market (considering the market potential and competition), the perceived value has It is the foundation for all marketing activities and that is not to make their segments, such as political marketing? So with the increasing convergence of political marketing with commercial and marketing studies that seek, through the understanding of the attitudes of voters, define the variables that influence their decision making and predict the factors favorable to the achievement of a successful election campaign, this study aims to consider the applicability of the use of "customer perceived value" in the political context and investigate, through the behavioral characteristics of voters, as characterized using the perceived value in the elections. The research is worth qualitative method, with application of Laddering to collect data through indepth interviews, and subsequently using the content analysis to characterize the perceived value in the elections, through the half-chain model end (Means-end Chain Model). 27 items were coded, 9 attributes, 10 consequences and 8 values. The chain is formed by the dominant attribute found "Honesty / Justice," the consequence "correct application of public funds" and values "Better quality of life" and "social welfare". Through its research and other results, we find a more volatile then the actual voters, which seeks to assess the political or even more considering both very personal characteristics of the applicant, related to their image and behavior, as his proposals for party-political campaign. Not noticed in any of the voters any party identification, although the party loyalty of politicians have been raised as a factor of credibility. Indeed, voters have to contemplate the elections not only as a means to promote democracy and improve the life in society, but also to gain personal benefits through means-end chains in this research, the study of the perceptions of voters about the electoral process and their choices. / A realidade das democracias ocidentais contemporâneas, caracterizadas pelo enfraquecimento da identidade partidária e o aumento de aspectos mais singulares como as qualidades pessoais do candidato na orientação da escolha eleitoral, provocou novos comportamentos eleitorais e, conseqüentemente, novos estudos que buscam explicar essas mudanças políticas e também o comportamento mais volátil do eleitor. Sabendo-se que o valor percebido foi um imperativo estratégico na década de 1990 para os produtores e varejistas e continua sendo de suma importância nos dias de hoje. Sendo ele inserido primeiramente no conceito de gerenciamento estratégico, em seguida, expandido para as orientações voltadas ao cliente (preocupando-se em satisfazer necessidades e desejos dos clientes) e para o mercado (analisando o potencial do mercado e a concorrência), o valor percebido tornou-se base fundamental para todas as atividades de marketing e por que também não se tornaria para seus segmentos, como o marketing político? Assim, com a crescente convergência do marketing político com o marketing comercial e os estudos que buscam, através da compreensão das atitudes do eleitor, definir as variáveis que influenciam seu processo decisório e predizem os fatores favoráveis para a realização de uma campanha eleitoral bem sucedida, o presente estudo pretende considerar a aplicabilidade do uso do valor percebido do cliente no contexto político e investigar, através das características comportamentais dos eleitores, como se caracteriza o uso do valor percebido na escolha eleitoral. A pesquisa valeu-se de método qualitativo, com aplicação da técnica Laddering para coleta dos dados, através de entrevistas em profundidade e, posteriormente, o uso da análise de conteúdo para caracterizar o valor percebido na escolha eleitoral, através do Modelo de cadeias meios-fim (Means-end Chain Model). Foram codificados 27 elementos, sendo 9 atributos, 10 conseqüências e 8 valores. A cadeia dominante encontrada é formada pelo atributo Honestidade/Justiça , a conseqüência Aplicação correta das verbas públicas e os valores Melhor qualidade de vida e Bem estar social . Mediante a pesquisa e seus demais resultados, percebe-se então um comportamento mais volátil do eleitor atual, que busca avaliar o político considerando tanto ou até mais características bastante pessoais do candidato, ligadas a sua imagem e comportamento, quanto suas propostas político-partidárias de campanha. Não se percebeu em nenhum dos eleitores qualquer identificação partidária, embora a fidelidade partidária dos políticos tenha sido levantada como um fator de credibilidade. Na verdade, os eleitores demonstraram contemplar a escolha eleitoral não só como um meio de fomentar a democracia e melhorar a vida em sociedade, mas também de obter vantagens pessoais através das cadeias meios-fim apresentadas nesta pesquisa, pelo estudo da percepção dos eleitores sobre o processo eleitoral e suas escolhas.

Emotion acts as a primer for our memory retention and encoding processes. In the 2016 election, we saw an increase in negative or hostile rhetoric from candidates. I argue this is due to the use of Twitter and the physical representation of engagement. This paper examines the effect of enthusiasm, anxiety, and hostility in response to political tweets. Tweets from Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio were analyzed for emotional response content to explore mean differences in retweets from the three emotions.

Orientador: Marcus Aloizio Martinez de Aguiar / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T18:23:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Chinellato_DavidDobrigkeit_M.pdf: 15300810 bytes, checksum: 36fdea424f1c7f83a5f50742e82465f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Nesta tese, estudamos as propriedades estatísticas de processos dinâmicos de influência em redes complexas sujeitas a perturbações externas. Consideramos redes cujos nós admitem dois estados internos, digamos 0 e 1. Os estados internos se alteram de acordo com os estados dos nós vizinhos. Supomos que há N1 nós com estado interno fixo em 1, N0 elementos com estado interno fixo em 0 e outros N elementos com estado interno livre. Os nós com estado interno ½xo podem ser interpretados como perturbações externas à subrede de N elementos livres. Este sistema é uma generalização do modelo do eleitor [25] e pode descrever diversas situações interessantes, indo de sistemas sociais [26] para a física e a genética. Neste trabalho, calcularemos analiticamente a evolução de um sistema de rede totalmente conectada, obtendo expressões para as distribuições de equilíbrio de uma rede qualquer e também de todas as probabilidades de transição. Em seguida, generalizamos os resultados para o caso em que N0 e N1 são menores do que 1, representando um acoplamento fraco do sistema com um reservatório externo. Mostramos que os resultados exatos são excelentes aproximações para várias outras redes, incluindo redes aleatórias, reticuladas, livres de escala, estrela e mundo pequeno, e estudamos a dinâmica destas outras redes numericamente. Finalmente, demonstramos que, se os dois parâmetros da solução para redes totalmente conectadas, N0 e N1, forem alterados para valores efetivos para cada tipo de rede específico, o nosso resultado analítico explica satisfatoriamente todas as dinâmicas e estados assintóticos de outras topologias. O nosso modelo é portanto bastante geral, se aplicado cuidadosamente / Abstract: We study the statistical properties of in²uence networks subjected to external perturbations. We consider networks whose nodes have internal states that can assume the values 0 or 1. The internal states can change depending on the state of the neighboring nodes. We let N1 nodes be frozen in the state 1, N0 be frozen in the state 0 and the remaining N nodes be free to change their internal state. The frozen nodes are interpreted as external perturbations to the sub-network of N free nodes. The system is a generalization of the voter model [25] and can describe a variety of interesting situations, from social systems [26] to physics and genetics. In this thesis, we calculate analytically the equilibrium distribution and the transition probabilities between any two states for arbitrary values of N, N1 and N0 for the case of fully connected networks. Next we generalize the results for the case where N0 and N1 are smaller than 1, representing the weak coupling of the network to an external reservoir. We show that our exact results are excellent approximations for several other topologies, including random, regular lattices, scale-free, star and small world networks, and study the dynamics of these other networks numerically. We then proceed to show that, by appropriately tuning the two parameters from the solution from fully connected networks, N0and N1, to eÿective values when dealing with other, more sophisticated network types, we can easily explain their asymptotic network behaviour. Our model is therefore quite general in applicability, if used consciously / Mestrado / Física Estatistica e Termodinamica / Mestre em Física

This study tests hypothesized causal relationships between predictor variables and voter turnout. Attention is focused on the psychological and attitudinal dimensions of turnout. Using data from the 1980 National Election Study of the Center for Political Studies, recursive and nonrecursive causal models are constructed to test the effects of election specific factors, social psychological factors, and rational choice based factors on voter turnout. Self-reported turnout is used as the primary dependent variable in all models. Validity tests support use, despite acknowledged limitations.