CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2009
| Author | Fazekas, Zoltan |
|---|---|
| Title | Do Previous Experiences Matter? Moderation Effects on Candidate Trait Evaluations |
| Summary | The present paper investigates the effects of experiences linked to previous presidents on the presidential candidate evaluations. Building an analytical framework on the trait ownership theory combined with theories related to the relative stability and openness of presidential schemata constructions, it analyses how the candidate trait evaluations are moderated by the previous presidential evaluations, proposing an alternative operationalization based on cohort analysis. Using the American National Election Studies for the 1984-2004 period, and covering six presidential elections, a preliminary foundation based on variance analysis of candidate evaluation scores is offered, and it is followed by multilevel regression models to determine the respondents’ misevaluation - and its direction - of the candidates. Results indicate that previous experiences statistically and substantively matter when the candidates are evaluated, and there are different evaluation patterns between Democrats and Republicans. However, the number and political color of previous presidents are important aspects that change the extent of the impact generated by previous experiences. Furthermore, it is shown that previous experiences matter differently for the single traits, bringing support to the proposition that decomposition of the overall evaluations is indeed necessary. When this decomposition is used, the results point to a largely different evaluation formation process for the moral evaluations. |
| Supervisor | Littvay, Levente |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2009/fazekas_zoltan.pdf |
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