Stacy G. Ulbig

Conflict Avoidance and Political Participation

Previous explanations of mass participation have often focused on sociodemographic characteristics to the neglect of social psychological factors. This study takes a new path in thinking about the role of psychological factors in participation. Specifically, we hypothesize that individual propensities regarding conflict will influence the likelihood of participating in political affairs. We develop more specific expectations for how the avenue of participation interacts with individual propensities toward conflict to influence participation. Using secondary analysis of the Citizen Participation Study (CPS), we show that conflict avoidance is significantly and inversely related to participation in some kinds of activities, consistent with our expectations. Thus, both individual propensities and the political context influence participation. This study provides a new understanding of which individuals participate in political affairs and which avenues they choose. This suggests a need to reconsider the role of psychological factors in models of participation.

Does State Political Ideology Change over Time

Students of politics in the American states agree that political ideology varies significantly between the states. Due to the path-breaking work of Wright, Erikson and McIver (1985) and their subsequent research, there is consensus that interstate differences in public ideology are important in accounting for notable differences among the states in the policies they adopt. Despite this consensus, however, there remains a fundamental debate among state politics researchers regarding whether public ideology changes within the states in the post-WW II era. Erikson, Wright, and McIver (1993) contend that state-level ideology is mostly stable, with over-time variations representing “noise.” Alternatively, Berry, Ringquist, Fording, and Hanson (1998) argue that meaningful ideological change occurs within states over time. We test the hypothesis that ideology is stable at the state level. In addition to using the data developed by these teams of researchers, we construct an alternative data set to provide an out-of-sample test of their conflicting expectations. The results have significant implications for the study of state political processes. Systematic analysis underscores the stability and relative dominance of between-state differences indicating that the effects of ideology commonly observed in many state policy studies are due to interstate variation rather than temporal change. However, we also find note-worthy longitudinal ideological variation within selected states during the last three decades. Scholars interested in studying the causes and consequences of state-level political ideology—particularly their implications for public policy adoption and change—might profitably focus on the handful of states where survey-based measures indicate the presence of ideological change.

Voting for Minority Candidates in Multiracial/Multiethnic Communities

Recent research suggests that over time the performance of minority officeholders rivals race-based attitudes and group membership as the primary determinant of citizen evaluations of minority officeholders. Here, we examine the determinants of electoral support for an African-American mayor in a multiracial/multiethnic venue. We test alternative explanations (race, social distance, and performance-based models) of voter support for an African-American mayor in a setting where no ethnic or racial group represents more than half the electorate. Our findings indicate that approval ratings coexist with racial-group identification as a determinant of voter support for minority mayors, with one important caveat. Racial voting appears to be more influential in minority candidates’ first electoral bids. While race strongly influences voter support for minority mayors during their initial run for office, job approval becomes more important when the minority candidate runs for reelection.

The Appeal of Second Bananas: The Impact of Vice Presidential Candidates on Presidential Vote Choice, Yesterday and Today

To what extent do vice presidential candidates affect individual-level vote choice for president? The accepted wisdom is that vice presidential candidates are of minor importance to most voters. Yet much energy was spent discussing the potential impact of Biden and Palin as vice presidential candidates. Here, the impact that attitudes toward Palin and Biden had on vote choice in the 2008 election are compared with the role of vice presidential candidates historically. Although feelings about vice presidential candidates typically play little role in vote choice, there are exceptions. When vice presidential candidates draw media attention, feelings about them become much more important to vote choice. Whereas Biden represents the general rule of vice presidents garnering little media attention and having relatively little impact on vote choice, Palin_s candidacy drew an abnormally high level of media interest, and feelings about her exerted a stronger impact on vote choice, especially among Independent voters.

Reply to “The Measurement and Stability of State Citizen Ideology”

WRITING THIS REPLY presents a challenge for us since the authors of the preceding article reinforce most of our substantive points published previously (Brace et al. 2004, 2006). In this new article, Berry et al. (2007) acknowledge that there is more cross-sectional than longitudinal variation in the Berry et al. (1998) measure of state citizen ideology and imply that researchers should take precautions not to confuse them. They admit that their measure is tapping something different from survey-based self-identification, and they also note the distinction between absolute and relative change in their ideology measure. Given our many points of agreement, this reply focuses on four key points made by Berry et al. in the preceding article on which we differ. First, we address the argument that focusing on intra-state attitude change ignores important attitude change affecting all states simultaneously. Second, we discuss Berry et al.s distinction between symbolic ideology and operational ideology. Third, we consider the validity and reliability of the various measures. Finally, we revisit our choice of statistical methods. Although we certainly do not conclude that Berry et al.s measure lacks clear utility or relevance, we believe it may serve a more limited purpose than the authors intended. We urge researchers to consider the conceptual, methodological, and epistemological concerns raised in our response before using any indicator of state public opinion.

Is Class Appreciation Just a Click Away?: Using Student Response System Technology to Enhance Shy Students' Introductory American Government Experience

Do individual-level student characteristics affect appreciation for, and benefit from, the use of student response system technology? We investigate the usefulness of in-class electronic student response systems (“classroom clickers”) to understand if it benefits some college students more than others. Specifically, we investigate whether shyer students benefit more from the use of the student response system, with the expectation that shyer students will appreciate using the system more and consequently make more positive gains in attitudes about the class, knowledge of politics, and political engagement. Utilizing original survey data collected from Fall 2009 and Fall 2010 introductory American Government courses, we find that shyer students show greater attitude improvement over the course of the semester, exhibit more knowledge about politics and engage in more outside-of-class political discussions than less shy students when electronic student response systems are utilized, but no such difference emerges when more traditional in-class feedback methods are used. Overall, the findings presented here suggest that, at least marginally, the use of in-class electronic response systems can improve the educational experience of students who are typically isolated by traditional classroom teaching methods.

The Coingate effect: The impact of scandal on attitudes toward, state and federal political actors

Highlights ► Consumption of news coverage of governors boosts approval relative to the president. ► Exposure to negative scandalous news leads to a decline in governor approval. ► The content of media coverage impacts how the public places blame and attribution. Abstract What happens when a major, well publicized state-level scandal occurs? Do opinions of federal politicians improve because of relative comparisons to state politicians caught in the scandal? Do attitudes toward all politicians suffer? Little work has been done to investigate about how scandals related to one level of government affect attitudes about political actors at other levels. We investigate what happens when a major and well publicized state-level scandal occurs. Using individual-level public opinion data collected during the summer of 2006, we analyze the impact that a state-level scandal had on citizen approval of state and federal political actors, considering the mediating impact of exposure to media coverage of the scandal. Overall consumption of news coverage of state governors boosts approval of the governor relative to the president. At the same time, however, citizens exposed to negative scandalous news coverage of their governor show a decline in relative gubernatorial approval.

Getting Registered and Getting to the Polls: The Impact of Voter Registration Strategy and Information Provision on Turnout of College Students

Each election year, colleges and universities across the nation witness a plethora of on-campus voter registration activities. The results of these drives are most often assessed by tallying the number of voter registration cards collected. Little has been done, however, to more carefully investigate these results. As a first attempt to examine postdrive results more thoroughly, we ask two questions. First, do students who register through an on-campus voter registration drive actually make it to the voting booth? Second, does providing basic information about the voting process increase turnout among students who register through an on-campus voter registration drive? In this study, we investigate the overall turnout rate of students registering to vote in the 2008 presidential election through on-campus registration drives by validating votes through the office of the county voting registrar. We then compare the turnout rate of students who registered through the on-campus drives with the turnout rate of similar young people nationwide. Finally, we investigate whether the provision of information through certain avenues boosts turnout. Our findings show that students who registered through an on-campus voter registration drive turned out to vote at a higher rate than similar young people nationwide. Additionally, we found small but important effects of information provision through different formats.

Student perceptions and instructional evaluations: A multivariate analysis of online and face-to-face classroom settings

This study examined students’ evaluations of faculty performance in traditional and online classes. The study design builds upon prior research that addressed socially relevant factors such as classroom environments, students’ learning goals, expected, and received grades, and more importantly, students’ ratings of instructors’ performance. The sample consists of data from a population of humanities and social sciences faculty from a medium-sized southwest undergraduate university who taught both online and traditional classes during the semester periods Fall 2010 to Spring 2012. In a traditional setting, the evaluation factors (develops rapport with students, stimulates students, challenges student learning, provides timely feedback, and teaches fundamentals), and the external factors—(course level taught and gender)—were found to significantly contribute to faculty summary scores. In an online class, students consistently rank female instructors better. However, the evaluation criteria—develops student rapport, stimulates students, provides timely feedback, and teaches fundamentals (though not ‘challenges and involves students in their learning’)—mirrored the same affects observed in the traditional classroom evaluations. The finding that “teaches fundamentals” received the largest standardized beta-coefficient in both classrooms further confirms earlier research that university students perceive course mastery as a major indicator of instructor performance regardless of gender or rank. However, the results indicate that students’ perceptions are different when attending a traditional versus online classroom setting. This infers that synchronous and asynchronous settings require different teaching styles and different evaluation criteria.

Social Butterflies and Politics: Exploring the Link between Sociability and Political Engagement, Online and Off

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between individual-level sociability and political engagement. While some evidence exists that individual-level sociability may be related to political engagement and interest, little is known about the ways in which sociability affects participation in different forms of political activity, particularly newer forms of online political engagement. Using data from the 2009 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we explore the ways in which individual-level sociability affects political engagement in a range of activities, including online political discussions. We find sociability levels affected some activities more than others. Sociability has no impact on more socially isolated political activities such as voter registration and voting, but greatly impacts engagement in political activities involving a higher degree of social interaction, such as attending a meeting where a member of Congress was present and discussing politics with others, both in person and online. These findings help explain longstanding questions about the factors that motivate participation in traditional political activities as well as newer online forms of political engagement.