Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Political Science

First Reader

Dr. Hal Bass

Second Reader

Dr. Doug Reed

Third Reader

Dr. Jeff Pounders

Abstract

Since the 1970's, much research has been done in an attempt to determine variables that cause decline of the president's popularity. Although there are different studies that give various reasons for the decline of the president's popularity, all agree that there is a trend of decline over the president's term. To represent the decline, James Stimson suggested a parabola model, whereas John Mueller suggested a linear-regression model. This paper attempts to show that a linear-regression model is more effective in explaining decline of the presidents from Truman to Johnson, than from Nixon to Bush. The findings show that a linear model does somewhat represent the era of Truman to Johnson better than the era of Nixon to Bush.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.