Political Science

Leah Matchett

Soft on Defense: How Americans Make Judgments on Candidate Hawkishness
2020–21 Survey Lab Project

My research examines how the American public makes judgments of strength on defense among American political candidates. Previous work suggests that the hawkishness of a candidate affects public support for them, but we have little idea of how these judgments are made. I compare how a candidate’s demographics, experiences, and policy statements interact to affect public judgments of their strength on defense. I find that candidates' experiences and policy statements are important, with the most significant effects being a candidate’s stance on the defense budget and significant military service. Other policy stances and more minimal military service has smaller or even a null effect on citizen’s judgments of candidate strength on defense.

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