The Association between Partisan Affiliation and Opinion of the US Government

by

Live Poster Session: Zoom Link

Marley McDonald

Marley is a current sophomore at Wesleyan University from Brooklyn, New York. She is pursuing majors in Business, English, and Italian Studies. Outside of class, Marley is a member of the women’s club soccer team and the social media manager for the Wesleyan Women’s Soccer team.

Abstract: In recent years there has been growing unrest regarding the political state of the US and increased division between political parties. This project examines the ways in which political party affiliation affects an individual’s opinion of the US government. The sample from the American National Election Studies (ANES) surveyed 8,280 eligible voters in the US pre-election from August 18, 2020 until election day, November 3, 2020. Respondents were asked questions regarding the party they are registered in and if they feel the country is on the right track. Race was also included as an explanatory variable. Chi-square analysis shows that party affiliation and opinion of the government are significantly associated and logistic regression shows that the odds that an individual believes the country is on the right track is significantly greater for Republicans than Democrats.

MarleyMcDonaldQAC201Poster-1