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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

politics, Trump, political party, 2016 election, loyalty

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Political Science

Abstract

Do voters prioritize party loyalty or personal ideology when casting a ballot? In the contemporary political climate, it is nearly impossible to tell because the two go hand in hand: almost all Democratic candidates are liberal, and almost all Republican candidates are conservative. Consequently, it is difficult to discern, for example, whether a voter supports a Democrat because the candidate is a Democrat, or because the candidate is a liberal. However, Utah’s 2016 presidential election presented a highly unusual opportunity to separate the two factors. In a state consistently dominated by the Republican Party, the collision of a highly unpopular Republican nominee (Donald Trump) and an appealing independent candidate (Evan McMullin), together with the other available options, was a chance to bring into sharp relief the relative strength of partisanship and ideology in determining vote choice. Studying the election’s results sheds new light on party defection and its motivators.

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