Date of Award
8-14-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Political Science, MA
First Advisor
Cameron Wimpy
Committee Members
Rollin Tusalem; William McLean
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2020 P58
Abstract
Extant research suggests there are numerous important predictors in understanding what influences Americans’ trust in government. Some evidence suggests trust is influenced by satisfaction with policies passed, while other evidence predicts it is dissatisfaction with incumbent leaders. I develop a theory that posits religion can moderate traditional predictors of trust in government given its unique influence in American political culture. By utilizing survey data from the American National Election Studies from 1980–2016, I estimate a series of pooled time-series regression models on over 18,000 observations. I further estimate an interactive model in which I examine the moderating role of religiosity on the impact on trust in government of being a co-partisan with the president. The findings suggest religion does have an impact on Americans’ trust in government. Specifically, that higher religiosity leads to lower trust in government, even when being a co-partisan with the president.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Pluskett, Brandon M., "Identifying Religion’s Role in Americans’ Trust in Government" (2020). Student Theses and Dissertations. 392.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/392
