A variety of studies have examined the manner in which motivation effects the decisions made, and the activities engaged in, by politicians. However, one area that seems to have been ignored has been whether there are regional differences among state legislators as it relates to ambition and what, if any, effect it has on the preferences of Southern and non-Southern legislators. Utilizing data from a survey administered to state legislators from all 50 states, we are able to demonstrate that legislators from Southern states exhibit significantly higher levels of progressive ambition than those from non-Southern states, and that this increased level of ambition exerts a significant impact on the types of activities Southern legislators would prefer to spend their time engaging in.
In the period 1985 to 1996, agricultural conservation policy in the United States underwent a fundamental transition from a focus on policy design elements that emphasized short‐term economic returns for farmers and long‐term productivity to a focus on design elements that emphasized systemic environmental concerns. Although farmers' concerns with the environment were doubtlessly real, this adaptation of design elements allowed the agriculture policy community to gain the support of the environmental community for programs that offered new ways to channel short‐term economic support to farmers. The adaptation of design elements was triggered by the severe economic threat farmers began to experience in the late 1970s. This article investigates the language adaptations that facilitated the changes in agricultural conservation policy by analyzing the five policy‐design elements developed by Ingram and Schneider.
Objective
Previous research has found that southern state legislators demonstrate more progressive ambition than their nonsouthern counterparts. This presents an interesting puzzle with regard to why this difference exists. In this article, we apply the Five‐Factor Model (conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion) to investigate whether regional personality differences exist that can help explain why southern legislators exhibit greater levels of progressive ambition than nonsouthern legislators.
Methods
Data from a national survey of state legislator are analyzed using ordinal regression.
Results
Our findings show that higher levels of extraversion and openness among the legislators are directly related to greater levels of political ambition. More specifically, southern legislators appear to possess disproportionately higher levels of extraversion and openness than their nonsouthern counterparts. This helps explain the greater levels of progressive ambition they express.
Conclusions
In addition to providing insight into progressive ambition, the results reinforce the notion of southern distinctiveness among state legislatures.
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