Presidential scandals and party loyalty
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Citation
Abstract
This paper takes advantage of the unique aspects of Trump’s Presidency to design and implement a survey-experiment testing various categories of scandals. Although the findings are limited to the current Presidency, the paper contributes to the literature through its categorization of Trump’s scandals, and its application of those categories in an experimental design. The results indicate no significance for any type of scandal; raising questions regarding polarization in the country, and media outlets’ extensive coverage of such scandals. Negative partisanship is also examined here as a potential explanation for the high levels of party loyalty seen in the Republican Party – although the results in that area are similarly insignificant. Further research should be done to draw out precise movements among true independents and understand how positive and negative partisanship interact with one another in generating party loyalty.