Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science

选举行为的研究在选举研究中占有突出的地位 美国的政治行为。 然而，很少有人注意到 被引导去评估一个人自己的观点所起的作用 在评估候选人的立场时，如果候选人没有 这一立场明确。 本博士论文研究项目 为调查在多大程度上 个人将自己的政治观点投射到候选人身上， 在竞选活动中使用笼统和前后不一致的说法 充分和传播 使用实验设计框架，本研究探讨了 候选问题立场的模糊性与 个人预测。 人们是否将自己的观点投射到 模棱两可的候选人？ 如果是，这一进程的基础是什么机制？ 这一机制是否意味着候选人可以获得更多 通过模棱两可来塑造好的形象 这些问题的答案 将有助于我们对选举政治的理解，因为 选民评价和候选人之间将有明确的联系 的天性. 特别是，这项研究将有助于描述（a） 在何种程度和条件下，选民将表达自己的意见 （B）候选人可在多大程度上 通过对他/她的模糊来管理他/她在选民中的印象 政策立场。

The study of electoral behavior occupys a prominent place in research on American political behavior. However, very little attention has been directed toward assessing the role an individual's own views play in assessing a candidate's position, when the candidate has not made that position clear. This Doctoral Dissertation Research project provides support for an investigation of the extent to which individuals project their own political views onto candidates who resort to generalities and inconsistent statements in their campaign messages. Using an experimental design framework, this research examines the relationship between the ambiguity of candidate issue positions and individual projections. Do people project their own views onto an ambiguous candidate? If so, what mechanism underlies this process? And does this mechanism suggest that candidates can garner more favorable images by being ambiguous? The answers to these questions will contribute to our understanding of electoral politics, as more explicit links will be drawn between voter evaluations and candidate qualities. In particular, this research will help delineate (a) the extent to and conditions under which voters will project their own views onto a candidate, and (b) the extent to which a candidate can manage his/her impression among voters by being ambiguous about his/her policy positions.