David Klein
Pronouns: he/him/his
Research Mentor(s): Joshua Pasek, Associate Professor
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Communication and Media, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 4 (2pm-2:50pm)
Breakout Room: Room 5
Presenter: 2
Abstract
While COVID-19 has impacted many elements of our society, none might be more consequential than the presidency of the United States. President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic was an aspect that many voters primarily evaluated him on, but not in the ways you might think. This study looks into how people view COVID-19 with respect to President Trump by tracking pandemic-related topics that people associate with Trump and their feelings about him regarding these topics. Results for this study were obtained by coding open-ended survey responses with Google Forms. While we have yet to fully analyze this data, an early overview of it has shown us that people view the impacts of COVID-19 on President Trump differently based on whether or not they like him. This phenomenon is fascinating, particularly when you look at people’s responses to Trump contracting the virus himself. The pandemic has been a very divisive political issue, and our research into its impacts on the presidential election and people’s perceptions of Donald Trump further proves this.
Authors: David Klein, Joshua Pasek
Research Method: Survey Research
