05/08/19
HAYS, Kan. – Jonathan Clayton, a Fort Hays State University Virtual College student, was accepted to present his research, “What Makes a State Swing?,” at the quarterly Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies conference at Johns Hopkins University in Rockville, Maryland.

Clayton will graduate this spring with his Master of Professional Studies with a concentration in political management. He also received his Bachelor of Art in political science from FHSU.

His research received a Graduate Scholarly Experience Grant from the FHSU Graduate School and Scholarship Environment Committee and also placed third at the 2019 John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activities Day in the graduate empirical research category.

The paper tests the definition of a true “swing state” in presidential elections by examining battleground states, bellwether states and shift states, or those states who alternate between political parties during an election.

Clayton then studied the results of these elections to determine what these swing states have in common based on household income, racial demographics, population density, political party affiliation, voting behavior and voter registration.

Clayton will present virtually for the conference on the afternoon of June 11.