For the short final paper you must write a paper that uses theories and facts considered in course lectures and reading, along with data from the National Election Studies (NES), to address some aspect of Fiorina's argument in Culture War? Do the issues and themes he discusses strongly affect how people vote? Whether they turn out in the first place? Are the effects the same in presidential elections as in congressional elections? In presidential election years as in midterm elections? How does party identification figure in?
Your job is to write a paper that makes an argument that is relevant for one or more of the preceding questions, or similar questions. The idea is to flesh out the behavioral foundations for Fiorina's arguments--or to show that something he asserts or assumes about voting behavior seems not to be correct. To produce an effective paper, you will need to focus on some relatively narrow aspect of Fiorina's argument. You want to nail down something specific, not speculate about broad generalities.
To support your arguments, you will be expected to use data from the NES. I expect you to use the NES server I've set up for this course to do your own, original analysis of NES data to help make your case. You may also find useful information from other sources, but such information cannot stand in place of good exploitation of the NES. Keep this in mind as you decide how to narrow your topic for the paper. You don't want to pick a topic for which there is little information in the NES data collection.
The short final paper should be no longer than 10 pages (double-spaced), including the reference list and any charts, figures or tables. Longer papers will be subject to penalties. The short final paper is due in hard copy at my office by 4:30pm Monday, December 6. The paper should use normal scholarly apparatus for footnotes, citations, bibliography and any tables or figures.