b'Factors that Lead to Women Being Elected to State LegislaturesMary Alex CarterSponsor: Dr. James LaPlant, Department of Political ScienceThe question being posed in the study is What factors predict the percentage of women in a state legislature?. The units of analysis are the 50 states. The independent variables investigated are the percentage of votes for Trump in the 2016 election per state, population density per square mile, percentage population 65 and older per state, percentage with a bachelors degree or higher, 2018 per capita income, and the region of each state. The dependent value is the percentage of women elected in state legislatures. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables is expressed by five scatterplots and an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Among the independent variables, the percentage of votes for Trump in the 2016 election per state, percentage with a bachelors degree or higher, and 2018 per capita income were statistically significant. The percentage of votes for Trump in the 2016 election per state had a negative correlation while the other two had a positive correlation. The ANOVA showed that region explains 28% of the variance in the percentage of women elected into state legislatures.Obamas Two Terms & Policy InitiativesKatlin M. Dasher and Jessie E. KalinowskiSponsor: Dr. Marc Pufong, Department of Political ScienceThis paper compares and discusses President Barack Obamas key policy achievements while in office. The specific intent of the paper is to explain the gap between qualitative vs quantitative success in policy initiatives and the actual outcome and/or implementation achievements. We hypothesized and confirm that while Obama was effective in getting policies passed, the outcome of those policies may not have been as effective as he initially intended. The paper topic suggests the success of President Obama or lack are review are discussed for the covered terms.The four elected areas of assessment are: Transition Period, Second Term, National Debt and Polarization. We offer explanation here in terms of success or policy effectiveness during Obamas terms in office. We weigh in our assessment whether policy initiatives were approached from either an institutionalist perspective or viewed from Obamas personal presidency attributes.We also assess how well Obama worked in times of a divided government, unified government, and his use of executive power. We conclude, as noted above, that while Obama was effective in getting policies passed, the outcome of those policies was not as effective as intended with ensuing higher national debt and historically, high polarization within the citizenry and the government.87'