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Public Opinion
Factors That Influence Political
Attitudes
Political Attitudes
 Many factors—including family,
gender, religion, education,
social class, race & ethnicity,
and region—all contribute to
American political attitudes and
behavior
Political Attitudes
 No single feature of an
individual’s life explains all of
that individual’s attitudes
Family
 Most important source of political
socialization
 Plays a major role in shaping political
attitudes (especially party identification)
Family
 Polls show the majority of young
people identify with their parents’
political party
 Process begins early in life (by age
10 or 11)
Family
 Even though individuals generally
become more independent as
they grow older, the correlation
between adult party id & the
parents’ party is still very high
Family
 A more recent trend is a tendency for
this correlation to be lower than it has
in the past
 Trend may be related to another trend:
growing number of voters who call
themselves “independents” rather
than Democrats or Republicans
Family
 More politically active your
family, the more likely you are
to hold the same beliefs
 Examples—Bush & Kennedy
families
Family
 Most members of the extended
Kennedy family are Democrats, and
most Bush family members are
Republicans
 Relationship is weaker on specific
issues (gun control, school prayer, etc)
 Strong for overall political views & ids
Gender
 A person’s gender influences
political views
 More women consider sexual
harassment in the workplace to be a
serious problem than do men
 More men than women tend to
support military actions & spending
in foreign affairs
Gender
 Party
identification is
also affected by
gender
 This relationship
has shifted
throughout the
years
Gender
 In the 1920s when women first began
to vote, they were more likely to
support the Republican Party than
were men
 Some experts explain correlation by
pointing out that Republicans tended to
be more the party of “hearth and
home”
Gender
 Tendency for
women to vote
for Republicans
continued
through the
1930s
Gender
 Although most women supported
the Democrat Franklin D.
Roosevelt (FDR), over his
Republican opponents, the
percentage of women supporters
was lower than the percentage of
men who supported FDR
Gender
 Trend held until
the late 1960s
(correlation
reversed)
 Since that time
women have
been more likely
than men to vote
for Democrats
Gender
 Change explained by the advent of
the modern women’s
rights movement & the
Democrats’ tendency to
support points of view
women support
Gender
 Equal
opportunity for
women
 Abortion right
 Welfare
programs
Gender
 On the other
hand, some
experts argue
that Republicans
are more
concerned
about defense
issues, and thus
attract more men
to their party
Gender
 More recent
gender-related
issue has to do
with male v.
female support
for women
political
candidates
Gender
 Although common sense may
tell us that women would be
more likely to support women
candidates, the research does
not show a clear correlation
Gender
 One problem is that relatively few
women run for political office
 Although their numbers have
increased in recent elections, more
women candidates run as
Democrats than as Republicans
Gender
 It is difficult to know if the
candidates’ gender alone affects
voting patterns of women and men
Gender
 In the
presidential
election of
2004, the
gender gap
appeared to
close somewhat
Gender
 Pollster John Zogby has pointed
out that the gender gap in the 2004
pres election was not nearly so
significant as the gap between
married & unmarried
voters
Gender
 He found that on most issues
single v. married voters were often
25-30 points different
 Single more likely to vote for
Democratic candidate (Kerry)
 Married voters more likely to
support Republicans (Bush)
Religion
 An individual’s religion is a factor
determining his or her political
attitudes
 Although the relationships are not
as strong as they once were,
patterns still hold
Religion
 Protestants are more conservative
on economic matters (minimum
wage, taxes) than Catholics &
Jews
 Jews tend to be more liberal on
both economic and social issues
(civil liberties & rights)
Religion
 Catholics tend
to be more
liberal on
economic
issues than on
social issues
Religion
 Some research on
fundamentalist
Christians indicates they:
 Tend to support more
conservative candidates
for public office
 More likely to contribute
to the Republican Party
Religion
 Conservative tendency is
stronger for attitudes about
social issues (abortion, stem cell
research, etc.) than for foreign
affairs & economic issues
Education
 A person’s level of education
also affects political attitudes
 Evidence provides conflicting
results
Education
 In general, the higher the
individual’s educational level,
the more likely he/she is to hold
conservative political points of
view
Education
 However—many
studies show that
college education
often influences
individuals to have
more liberal social
& economic
attitudes than they
had before college
Education
 Studies show
that: the longer
students stay in
college & the
more
prestigious the
institution they
attend, the more
liberal they
become
Education
 Reasons for this correlation are unclear
 Some believe liberal attitudes of
professors may influence students
 Others believe that the differences are
based on the characteristics of people
who attend college v. those that don’t
Race & Ethnicity
 Much research has focused on the
relationship between an individual’s
race & ethnicity and her/his political
attitudes
Race & Ethnicity
 Oldest & largest numbers of
studies focus on black
Americans
Black Americans
 Identify with the
Democratic Party
 Most consistently
liberal group
within that party
Black Americans
 Recent presidential elections,
blacks have voted in overwhelming
numbers (close to 90%) for the
Democratic candidate
Hispanic Americans
 Much less research has been
conducted with Hispanic
Americans
 Preliminary results indicate they
too tend to be more liberal than the
majority
Black Americans
 Tendency to affiliate with the
Democratic Party
 Correlation appears to be weaker
than that for black Americans
(Mexican, Puerto Ricans, etc.)
Asian Americans
 Limited amount of research on
Asian Americans & voting patterns
 More conservative than blacks
or Hispanics
Asian Americans
 Attitudes of the various nationalities
of Asians fluctuate widely
 Korean Americans are more liberal
than Japanese Americans
Asian Americans
 Overall, more Asian Americans
voted in the 2000 presidential
election for Al Gore (D) than for
George W. Bush (R)
 Influence of Asian ethnicity on
political attitudes is still not clear
Which regions in the
U.S. are the most
liberal? Least liberal?
Geographic Region
 South is the least liberal of the
four regions
 Midwest somewhat more liberal
 East and West most liberal
Geographic Region
 People on either coast tend to be
more liberal than those in the
middle of the country
Geographic Region
 Generalization (problems)
 Many Californians & New
Englanders are conservative
Geographic Region
 Part of the reason for the trend is
an urban/rural differentiation
 Coastal cities populated by
minorities, recent immigrants &
members of labor unions
Geographic Region
 Cities in the “rust belt” of the
Great Lakes region also tend to
vote Democratic
 Strong labor constituencies
(union membership is strong)
Southern Region
 Party affiliations of
Southeasterners have been
changing over the past 50 years
 Since the 1950s, many southerners
have broken their traditional ties
with the Democratic Party
Southern Region
 From the time of Reconstruction –
1950s, the “Solid South” always
voted Democratic
 Almost all representatives,
senators, governors, and local
officials belonged to the
Democratic Party
Southern Region
 Since the 1950s, more & more
political leaders have affiliated with
the Republicans
 Today, in most southern states,
both parties have competitive
elections
Why did Southerners
change their political
affiliation in the 1950s?
Southern Region
 Many southerners disagreed with
the Democratic Party’s support for
the black civil rights movement
starting in the 1950s
 Result – many white southerners
changed their party affiliation
Southern Region
 White southerners tend to be:
 Less liberal than others on
social issues (aid to minorities,
legalizing marijuana, same sex unions,
etc.)
 Similar to those of other
regions on economic issues
(Social Security, government services,
etc.)
Southern Region
 Although there is some evidence
that southerners are more
conservative than they were 50
years ago, political views of white
southerners are less distinct
from those in other regions than
they used to be
Occupation
 Today occupation has a weaker
association with political
opinions than it did in the 1950s
Occupation
 The traditional gap—manual
workers were more liberal than
business or professional persons in
their attitudes toward the economy
& social welfare has narrowed
Social Class
 Years ago, the relationship
between social class & political
attitudes was clear
 Higher the social class=more
conservative & more likely to
belong to the Republican Party
Social Class
 Even though broad affiliations
between blue-collar workers & the
Democratic Party & businessmen
and the Republican Party still have
some credibility, those
relationships are much weaker
than they once were