Hope and Understanding of Government in Relation to Tea Party Affiliation
Author:
Megan BeckerMentor:
Virgil Adams, Associate Professor and Chair of Psychology, California State University Channel IslandsHope and Understanding of Government in Relation to Tea Party Affiliation Author: Megan Becker, California State University Channel Islands Mentor: Virgil H. Adams III, PhD., Psychology Program, California State University Channel Islands Trust in government is very important to Americans; however a component of this is their understanding of politics, which may be a deciding factor in the upcoming 2012 election. Research supports the idea that trust in the American government and the electoral process influences voter turnout. Additionally a person’s view of a political leader matters: hope is a possible indicator of which presidential candidate people choose. If a candidate made people feel hopeful, this has been shown to be a reliable predictor that they would vote for this candidate beyond the influence of their party identification and ideology. The present study examined the relationship between peoples’ understanding of government and hope. It was based on a 166 item questionnaire, multiple scales were included in the survey administered to adults living in Southern California (n = 476). The hypothesis stated that those who believe they understand politics would also have more hope. The results of a Hierarchical Regression model were significant F (14,462) = 2.049, p = .013. This indicates that political understanding (Beta = -.095) and tea party identification (Beta = .104) significantly accounted for variance in hope beyond that attributable to demographic factors. The discussion centers on the relationship between political understanding, party identification, and hope.