Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Political Science

Committee Chair

Matthew Jacobsmeier

Committee Member

William Franko

Committee Member

Hershel Thomas

Committee Member

William Gorby

Abstract

From poets to political scientists, yearning for a sense of place has motivated both song and research. Appalachia is an understudied place in political science, with previous research inconclusive as to whether the Appalachian region has a separate identity from other parts of the United States (White 2019). Identities may be derived from a sense a place. Alternatively, identities may develop from a sense of group identification with common interests and grievances, and concerns regarding out-group members. Appalachia has a long history of being different and set apart from the United States; and also, has been subjected to identity mobilization efforts by a presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020. Appalachia therefore presents a unique opportunity to study identity, and the source of identification, over a period of time.

Using data from the Cooperative Election Survey (CES) from 2006 to 2020, this dissertation uses five definitions of “Appalachia” to determine whether residents in Appalachia answer questions regarding approval of the president and environmental policy differently than residents of other parts of the country, all else being equal. The regression results indicate that Appalachian residence in the 420 country Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) influences the expected level of approval of the president during the Obama and first Trump Administrations. Appalachian residence also influences some environmental policy questions. Considering geographic subregions and county economic status as defined by the ARC indicates that the strongest Appalachian effect is in the northern parts of ARC Appalachia, and in the counties economically considered transitional to distressed.

Appalachian residence is used as a proxy for Appalachian Identity in this dissertation. The CES surveys studied do not contain any questions regarding Appalachian or racial identities and do not ask consistent questions over time regarding racial attitudes. Another question still remained regarding the effect of Appalachian residence on other explanations for presidential approval and pro-environmental support. Further, a question remained regarding whether Appalachian members of subgroups answered questions differently than non-Appalachians.

To answer these questions, several methods were used. A pilot survey of West Virginia University students was conducted utilizing the CES survey questions on presidential approval and five of the environmental policy questions. The pilot survey also included questions regarding Appalachian and racial identities. Appalachian self-identification was a factor in determining the expected level of expressing support for President Biden in 2024, and for three of the five environmental policy questions.

One racial attitude question in the CES surveys was used to determine the impact of that racial attitude on presidential approval and environmental policy preferences. This analysis also included the interaction of Appalachian residence on other explanatory variables for predicted approval of President Obama in 2016 and President Trump in 2017; and on three environmental policy questions. In this limited testing, racial attitudes lessened the ability of Appalachian residence to predict approval of the president or environmental policy preferences. The interactions generally were not statistically significant. Further, Appalachian residents generally answer political attitude and environmental policy questions differently than do residents of non-Appalachian Northeast, non-Appalachian South, Midwest, and Western residents in the United States.

Only rural Appalachian county residents did not differ from similarly situated persons regarding approval of President Bush. Appalachian Whites, Democrats, coal county residents and abandoned mine land county residents different from similarly situated persons in other parts of the United States. Republicans differed on the expected level of approval for President Trump. Appalachian residence was statically significant for pro-environmental policy questions among Democrats, Whites, and resident in Abandoned Mine Land counties; and mixed for other groups. Finally, this dissertation also explores why a state similar to Appalachia in several important ways has different political attitudes and environmental policy preferences.

This dissertation makes an important contribution to political science knowledge. Overall, the effect of Appalachian residence, all else being equal, on political attitudes and environmental policy preferences indicates that Appalachia should be included as a region uniquely different than other regions in the country. The WVU pilot survey demonstrates that Appalachian self-identification, all else being equal, does influence political attitudes and policy choices. The CES could be improved by including questions regarding Appalachian place identification, Appalachian group identity, and racial identities which would permit direct testing of the effect of higher levels of Appalachian self-identification on political attitudes and policy preferences. Further, the CES should include at least four racial attitude questions in each survey to further study whether racial attitudes are the real reason why residents in ARC Appalachia are expected to answer political attitude and policy questions differently than residents in other parts of the United States.

Download

Share

COinS