Week 10: Future Research

Hi everyone. This is last conclusion I reached in my research. Over the next few weeks I will instead talk about the presentation I did as well as reflect on this project as a whole. That being said all of that can begin by looking at what’s next. By doing the same experiment after a different party wins, it can be seen both how this correlation may shift over time, as even now it is likely becoming more extreme. This study would tackle two problems at once measuring the change in correlation allowing the field to get a timeline of extremity as well as mitigate for the winner effect.

The limitation of patriotic context for political violence in this survey can be solved by alternate surveys using similar wording. By removing the John Locke question or even replacing it with a question that argues that political violence may be anti-American, it may get different results and will help show how different ideologies supporting political violence may interact with elections.

To mitigate the similarity of the schools, this study could be expanded in order to gauge for more diverse student bodies. To establish how much one’s environment and non-party demographics play a role in establishing such a correlation or even support can be important for establishing those most at risk of committing political violence. In the same vein non-college students should be looked at because age is a key demographic missed by both this study and pre-existing literature. Non-students should also be looked at because people who do not go to college are an important voter base, especially for conservatives, and it is important to see how they may feel differently about such correlations.

One factor that likely established this correlation is both social and traditional media. It should be investigated how both quantity and source of consumption may establish how much of a correlation there is. Since the media played such an important role in the planning of the January 6th riot, as well as the partisan fight that followed, it is key to find how it is dominating people’s lives.

Lastly, it is important to accurately gather how support for political violence may lead to acts of violence. Works like Westwood 2021 are just the beginning. What is likely needed is a study that tracks participants to see if they ever get arrested for acts of political violence based on demographics and rated support for political violence. This would fill in the field creating more concrete results for this study as well as others like the Survey Center for American Life. By creating hard results like that it would better enable legislative and legal action in the prevention of election related political violence. Thank you so much, Hudson.