Wyoming Politics: A Look Into the Effects of Conservative Political Traditions

For most of Wyoming’s statehood, Wyoming has been known as a conservative, Republican majority state. One of the core principles of conservatism is the value of tradition and the importance of sticking to the things that have always worked. That core value of tradition is transferable to other parts of Wyoming other than its moral values. As many voting Wyoming citizens subscribe to the value of tradition and conservative idealism, many voters also tend to vote in kind. This research seeks to determine Wyoming’s relevance in political standing with the rest of the nation by comparing policies and political norms based on the understanding that Wyoming tends to value tradition and pursue consistency. In seeking to answer this question, this research will include interviews from nine members of the Wyoming Legislature from the House and the Senate, both Republican and Democrat, to gauge perspective on Wyoming’s policy stances and whether we are ahead, behind or on par with the rest of the nation. The interviews will be conducted by a qualitative survey which will be given to each elected official. Background policy research will be included to determine Wyoming’s current stance on each of these issues and whether our policy status is consistent with the opinion and expertise of our legislators. The findings generated by this research were predictable in areas like cannabis legalization and progressive political movements but surprising in some areas like carbon dioxide emissions, renewable energy, and educational funding provisions.