Deven Parikh
Pronouns: he/him/his
Research Mentor(s): Michael Heaney
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: University of Glasgow (Scotland) / NonUM
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 6 – 4:40pm – 5:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Deven Parikh, Carson Ching, Michael Heaney
Presenter: 102
Abstract
Activists have long had an important role in the political process. Usually, their strategy involves advocating for change from the outside by pressuring politicians to enact certain policies. However, many attempt to run for office themselves in order to spur that change along from the inside. In this study, we decided to look at how past activism impacted a candidate’s run for office. For this study, we compiled congressional candidate data through public databases like Ballotpedia, news outlets, and social media; such data includes characteristics like age, political affiliation, and activism engagement. We analyzed the data by using R and considering how different variables like the ones mentioned above affect candidate success. Via these methods, we explored whether activists are more or less likely to win their primary or general election compared to non-activists and whether activists from one of the two main parties were more likely to win than those coming from the other party. Finally, we investigated how ideology and age affected the electoral performance of activists. Our findings will help us to understand how much influence activist politicians have inside of the two major political parties, and what their potential is to continue to drive party policy. As more and more activists decide to enter the realm of electoral politics, this could give an insight into the direction that Congress will take in the future.
Interdisciplinary, Social Sciences
