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Political Knowledge and Political Engagement in the United States

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Date Issued:
2019
Abstract/Description:
This thesis examined the impact of political knowledge on forms of political engagement in the United States. Prior literature has established a relationship between political knowledge and political engagement, where those with higher political knowledge were more likely to engage politically through acts such as voting. This study distinguished between the various forms of political engagement and political knowledge, and seeks to provide relevant data on who is more likely to have political knowledge, and what impact having political knowledge has. This served to reexamine trends found in past literature, in order to see if these trends have persisted or changed over time. This study analyzed data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) from 1988-2016 to explore the relationships between political knowledge and political engagement utilizing various regression models. Consistent with past literature, this study found demographic gaps in the distribution of political knowledge, although these gaps appear to be closing. While political knowledge had a strong and significant relationship with voting, the effects of political knowledge did not hold across all forms of engagement.
Title: Political Knowledge and Political Engagement in the United States.
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Name(s): Shaul, Brittany, Author
Knuckey, Jonathan, Committee Chair
Fine, Terri, Committee Member
Seigler, Daniel, Committee Member
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2019
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: This thesis examined the impact of political knowledge on forms of political engagement in the United States. Prior literature has established a relationship between political knowledge and political engagement, where those with higher political knowledge were more likely to engage politically through acts such as voting. This study distinguished between the various forms of political engagement and political knowledge, and seeks to provide relevant data on who is more likely to have political knowledge, and what impact having political knowledge has. This served to reexamine trends found in past literature, in order to see if these trends have persisted or changed over time. This study analyzed data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) from 1988-2016 to explore the relationships between political knowledge and political engagement utilizing various regression models. Consistent with past literature, this study found demographic gaps in the distribution of political knowledge, although these gaps appear to be closing. While political knowledge had a strong and significant relationship with voting, the effects of political knowledge did not hold across all forms of engagement.
Identifier: CFE0007530 (IID), ucf:52590 (fedora)
Note(s): 2019-05-01
M.A.
Sciences, Pol, Scty and Intl Afrs, Schl of
Masters
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): political knowledge -- political engagement
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007530
Restrictions on Access: public 2019-05-15
Host Institution: UCF

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