2008 Conference Program - Midwest Political Science Association

Friday, April 4-4:45 pm
25-7 PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL AND PUBLIC OPINION
Room Suite 15-250 on the 15th Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Nathan J. Kelly, University of Tennessee
Nathan.J.Kelly@gmail.com
Paper What I Like About You: A Study of the Specific Aspects of
the President's Persona that Lead to Approval of his Job
Performance
This study breaks apart my multi-faceted presidential persona
measure into its separate parts to see which is the most important in
explaining variance in presidential approval.
Mark A. Roeder, Patrick Henry College
maroeder@phc.edu
Paper The Role of Campaigns on Presidential Approval: An
Informational Approach
This project, examines the nightly news coverage of past
presidential campaigns (1980, 1984, 1996 and 2004) in order to
determine the effect campaign events may have on presidential
approval scores.
Laura Kathryn Frey, University of California, Santa Barbara
lkfrey@umail.ucsb.edu
Paper How do the Undecided Decide Swing Voters and Electoral
Choice
This paper challenges our understanding of swing voting and argues
that swing voters are actually either attitudinally ambivalent or
simply indifferent. The distinction furthers our understanding of
vote choice and campaigns and elections.
Jon Rogowski, University of Chicago
jrogowski@uchicago.edu
Disc. Stacy G. Ulbig, Sam Houston State University
ulbig@shsu.edu
25-18 RELIGION, CULTURE WARS, AND PUBLIC
OPINION
Room UEH 407 on the 4th Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Ted G. Jelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
jelent@unlv.nevada.edu
Paper Religious Authority, Social Priming, and Support for Civil
Liberties
In an experiment we alter the messages of a fictional clergyperson
and prime respondents with a social network battery to determine
the factors that affect support for elite statements on civil liberties.
Paul A. Djupe, Denison University
djupe@denison.edu
Brian R. Calfano, Chatham University
bcalfano@chatham.edu
Anand Edward Sokhey, Ohio State University
sokhey.2@polisci.osu.edu
Paper Dimensions of Religiosity and Public Policy Issues
This paper examines how religious denominations create viable subcultures
that allow them to distinguish and differentiate themselves
from others groups, often within the same tradition. It examines
immigration and stem-cell research.
Ronald E. Matthews, Mount Union College
matthere@muc.edu
Paper Affect Toward Christian Conservatives, Party Image and
Conflict in the GOP
This paper investigates the dynamics of conflict among groups
within the Republican Party and examines the conditions under
which affect toward a particular subgroup – Christian conservatives
– impacts evaluations of and identification with the GOP.
Erin S. McAdams, Ohio State University
mcadams.19@osu.edu
Paper The War isn’t Over: Political Polarization and the Culture Wars
Comprehensive analysis of political polarization as both a dynamic
and static phenomenon.
Donald Michael Gooch, Arkansas Tech University
dgooch1@atu.edu
Disc.
Ted G. Jelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
jelent@unlv.nevada.edu
27-7 MEDIA, POLITICS, AND THE WAR ON TERROR
Room PDR 4 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Todd M. Schaefer, Central Washington University
schaefet@cwu.edu
Paper From Spreading Freedom to WMDs and Back Again: Framing
the War on Terror
We offer generalizable hypotheses regarding the nature and duration
of media frames during times of national crisis. We test these
hypotheses through an examination of the shifting frames in the war
on terror as used by the New York Times, 2001-2006.
Amber E. Boydstun, Pennsylvania State University
aboydstun@psu.edu
Rebecca Glazier, University of California, Santa Barbara
rglazier@umail.ucsb.edu
Paper Fear at the Ballot Box: How Terrorism News Influences Vote
Choice
More than five years after 9/11 attacks, terrorism still occupies
a sizeable proportion of the nightly news coverage. I explore
the relationship between reminders of terrorism, foreign policy
attitudes, and presidential vote choice in 2004.
Shana Kushner Gadarian, Princeton University
skushner@princeton.edu
Paper A Banality of Evil: WWII and Vietnam War Frames in the
GWOT and Iraq
Examines how, when, and to what effect the White House and
opposition elites used WWII and Vietnam analogies during four
critical policy-framing contests: 1) the invasion of Afghanistan; 2)
the invasion of Iraq; 3) Abu Ghraib, and; 4) the 2007 surge.
Jennie Kim, George Washington University
thejenniekim@gmail.com
Paper Agents, Agencies, and Counter-Terror Culture: Comparing the
U.S. and UK
This paper examines the themes of terrorism and counterterrorism
as they are manifest in the popular culture of the U.S. and UK, by
focusing on 8 contemporary cinematic or televisual representations
of terrorism and counterterrorism.
Christian William Erickson, Roosevelt University
cerickso@roosevelt.edu
Disc. Todd M. Schaefer, Central Washington University
schaefet@cwu.edu
28-17 COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S
SUBSTANTIVE REPRESENTATION
Room PDR 8 on the 3rd Floor, Fri at 4:45 pm
Chair Kimberly Beth Cowell-Meyers, American University
kcowell@american.edu
Paper Initiating Women’s Issues Legislation: The Case of Russian
Duma
This paper examines gender and party effects in bill initiation in
a specific policy area, women’s issues, in the State Duma of the
Russian Federation (1994-2003).
Raminta Stockute, University of Kansas
Raminta@ku.edu
Paper Deliberation and Gender Politics in the South African
Parliament
As South African women’s presence in parliament increased
so too did gender reform. However, those advances stalled as
women continued to gain seats. Why I argue debate conditions in
parliament contracted, undermining women's effectiveness.
Denise Marie Walsh, University of Virginia
denise@virginia.edu
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