Kallie Delis

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Reilly, Jack

Area of Concentration

Political Science

Abstract

Although over two decades old, the issue of establishing English as the national language of the United States remains prevalent to this day. With heightened tensions surrounding incoming immigrant and refugee populations, national English still has contemporary significance. Many reactions have been to further distinguish what being an American entails – speaking English being one of those proposed standards. From a social-focused perspective, this research analyzes how an individual’s other political and social opinions may influence their positions on national English. To measure this, I pulled variables from the American National Election Survey in the year 2000 that appeared to be connected. The question of whether respondents favored or opposed the establishment of national English acted as the dependent variable. The other variables assumed to contribute to national English support were categorized as general demographics, symbolic racism, or out-group opinions. Through analysis by logistic regressions and predicted probabilities, I found that white conservative respondents were more likely to support national English than those who identified otherwise. In the symbolic racism category, I concluded that respondents with negative perceptions of people of color were predicted to support national English more readily. Lastly, no solid conclusions about the out-group opinions were drawn. There appears to be a notable trend of respondents having negative views of marginalized identities and being more supportive of national English, but requires further study. Isolating which characteristics and predispositions are the most predictive of political opinions will prove beneficial to political scientists and the general public for educational purposes.

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