UNNATURAL DIVIDES: A CASE STUDY OF THE NY-24 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION IN 2018

Progress on environmental issues in the U.S. relies on governmental action. However, our partisan political system currently produces intense divides and debate, stalling progress on environmental protections. This project explores how this trend emerged in the 2018 congressional midterm election in the NY-24 district. Through semi-structured interviews with politically active people in the NY-24 district, an intimate understanding of the connections drawn between political subjectivity and environmental values reveals that while conservation is not unimportant, it is not a key or defining issue for many voters in the election. A content analysis of election coverage from local newspapers supports this idea, as the environment was a prevalent issue but far from the predominant issue in the coverage. The conclusions of this thesis demonstrate that a shift in framing the environment on behalf of politicians, the media, and environmentalists is necessary to bring focus and true change for environmental problems