Date of Award

1-1-2024

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Political Science

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Patricia Strach

Committee Members

Sally Friedman, Christopher Clary, Michael Malbin

Keywords

Experimental Survey, Exposure, Focus Groups, Gender, Hypocrisy, Scandal

Subject Categories

Political Science

Abstract

This study aims to further our understanding of political scandal more broadly, as well as the classification of sexual scandal cases more specifically. With regards to sexual political scandal, the research looks to answer (1) How candidate evaluations of a politician under sexual political scandal are impacted based on aspects of their identity (gender and family values) and (2) How candidate evaluations of a politician under sexual political scandal impacted by an ever-shifting public-private divide (the exposure process). The dissertation begins with an interdisciplinary overview of the literature, which is organized into five distinct facets to create a new and comprehensive understanding of the scandal process. Then, there is an overview of the mixed-method research design (focus groups and experimental surveys) and its strengths in addressing the research questions. Following this foundation, the empirical chapters lay out the findings as they relate to gender, hypocrisy, and scandal exposure and candidate evaluations, as well as additional findings that emerged from both the focus group and by analyzing characteristics of the recipients of the scandal information. Lastly, there is discussion of bettering our understanding of scandal and pragmatic uses of this research for various audiences.

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