Meade, RachelPiston, SpencerDonahue, Declan David2025-03-062025-03-062024https://hdl.handle.net/2144/498882024There are a number of dimensions along which people can be politically polarized, such as partisanship and class. One type of polarization is affective polarization, which is rooted in social or political identity and escalates disagreement to disdain and hostility toward the political outgroup. For this piece, I am examining state identity in New Hampshire and how it facilitates affective polarization along the dimension of state identity, specifically in how the cultural values of New Hampshire and Massachusetts foster affective polarization between the two states, and how that influences the narratives people from New Hampshire use to understand the political world. To do this, I analyze the social media and campaign websites of state senators and gubernatorial candidates to understand how they discuss their own state identity, as well as how that fits into frameworks of polarization. I find that Kelly Ayotte frames the 2024 gubernatorial election as one against Massachusetts, not just her opponents, but other Republicans don’t articulate that same narrative. Also, in topics relevant to New Hampshire’s state identity, typical partisan lines are erased in favor of politicians aligning their stances with the state’s identity, particularly with Democrats moderating on guns and taxation.en-USAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Political scienceAmerican studiesDiscourseMassachusettsNew HampshirePolarizationPopulismState identityThesis/Dissertation2025-03-030009-0004-7574-4060