The wages of fear: How gender, ideology, and symbolic threat influenced the voting behaviors of white southern women in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections

ABSTRACT STANLEY J. HINTON THE WAGES OF FEAR: HOW RACE, IDEOLOGY, AND SYMBOLIC THREAT INFLUENCED THE VOTING BEHAVIORS OF WHITE SOUTHERN WOMEN IN THE 2016 AND 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

DECEMBER 2022 The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether gender, ideology, and symbolic threat predict the voting behaviors of white southern women; whether these decisions influence political affiliation of partners/spouses/family; and whether threat is weaponized to influence voting behaviors. This study uses three sources of data: the 2016 ANES Time Series Study, the 2020 Time Series study, and a third source consisting of systematic analysis by CPOST in 2021 of those who stormed the U. S. Capitol on 6 January, included to further explore the role of symbolic threat. Multinomial logistic regression is used to model the relationship between the independent variables and the nominal dependent variable. Using models for politics, religiosity, demographics, threat, and all measures combined, the research reveals that white Southern women are responsible for the selection of political candidates for their families and symbolic threat controls the selection of political candidates by targeting family values.