political beliefs and behaviors american political ideology
TRANSCRIPT
What’s your political belief?
• Survey given to 10-14 year olds• One day the President was driving his car
to a meeting. Because he was late, he was driving very fast. The police stopped the car. (Finish the story)
• Different countries answer differently– England – Queen would be released– France – President would be excused– US – President would get a ticket like everyone
else
Types of Participation
2000 Election participation• 82% watched the campaign on television• 73% voted in the election• 34% tried to influence others how to vote• 10% put a sticker on their car• 9% gave money to help a campaign• 5% attended a political meeting• 3% worked for a party or candidate
• Is this true? 73% of people vote? – No
Who REALLY participates?
Different factors can tell us who votes
1. Education – MOST IMPORTANT, more education=more voting
2. Religious involvement
3. Race and Ethnicity – Whites higher than minorities (might be economic based)
4. Age – 18-24 is the lowest, and 45 and up is the highest
Who REALLY participates?
5. Gender – men traditionally voted more, now it is more equal
6. Two-party competition – more competitive elections have higher turnout
Cross-cutting cleavages – individuals influenced by many factors, it is important when testing for this that variables are controlled
Voting
• Trend of low voter turnout• 1964 – 69.3%(Voting Age Population %)• 1980 – 41.3%• 1984 – 60.9%• 1988 – 40.5%• 1992 – 55.2%• 1996 – 49.1%• 2000 – 51.3%• 2004 – 55.3%• 2008 - ???
Expanding Suffrage
1. Lifting of property restrictions (1830) – “universal manhood suffrage” gave voting rights to all white males
2. Suffrage for African-Americans (1863-1964)1. 1865 - 15th Amendment – Voting Rights to all
2. 1954 - Brown v. Board – separate but equal is illegal, killed Jim Crow laws
3. 1964 24th Amendment – banned poll tax
4. 1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 – federal law prohibited (no literacy tests, fair elections etc.)
Expanding Suffrage
3. Women’s Suffrage (1920) – 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote
4. 18-21 year-olds (1971) – 26th Amendment, sparked by Vietnam
Voter Turnout
• Registered Voter turnout
• Eligible Voter turnout
• Voter Registration – blamed as one of the causes of low turnout
• “Motor-Voter” (1993) – National Voter Registration Act – allowed people to register to vote while they get license
Other reasons for low turnout
• Difficulty of Absentee Voting
• Number of Offices to Elect too high
• Weekday, non-holiday voting
• Weak political parties – less “get-out-the-vote campaigns
Public Opinion
• The distribution of individual attitudes about a particular issue, candidate, political institution, etc.
http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm
George Gallup
• Developed “Gallup Polls”• Started in 1932• 1st “pollster”• Since 1936, agency has picked one general election result
incorrect• OTHER POLLS• http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
Sampling
• Representative – must mirror population you want answer about
• Random – give everyone an equal possibility of being sampled
• Wording – questions can’t be leading
• Straw poll – poor polling technique
• WEST WING EPISODE 1-6
Political Socialization
• Factors that influence a person’s opinion
• People in different social “groups” tend to share certain opinions: group identification
Gender
Examples
• More men support military• More women consider sexual
harassment a serious problem• Since ’60s, women vote Dem more
than men, and vice versa• Not as significant of an indicator as
marriage (married vs. unmarried)
Religion
Example
• Protestants are more conservative on economic matters than Catholics or Jews
• Catholics tend to be more liberal on economic issues than they are on social issues (Catholics becoming more conservative)
• Liberal minds tend to be LESS religiously affiliated.
Education
Example
• Higher Education = more conservative
or
• College education = liberal views
Conflicting results, not always a correlation
Social Class
• “Blue collar” (Laborer) typically Democrat
• “White collar” (Businessmen) typically Republican
Relationship is becoming less clear: let’s clear it up
Race and Ethnicity
Examples• African Americans – 90% Democrats• Hispanic Americans – tend to affiliate with
Democrats, but less likely than African Americans
• Asian Americans – less liberal than Hispanic Americans or African Americans, but still consistently vote Democrat
• White, more divided, fluctuates by election
Geographic Region
Example
• East and West Coasts – more liberal
• Mid-West – more conservative
• Urban - liberal
• South – 1870-1950s - Democrat “Solid South” but today they are primarily social conservatives
• White Southerner always less liberal except for self-serving subsidies…oil, gas, farm, ranch.
Political Ideology
• Coherent set of values and beliefs about public policy
• Changes over time for all people
• Liberal and conservative mean different things at different time periods
How ideological are Americans?
• 1950 study – “The American Voter”• 4 basic types of voter
1. Ideologues – 12% of people connect their opinions to party lines
2. Group Benefits Voter – 42% of people connect their opinion to their “group”. (labor union, interest group, class, race)
How ideological are Americans?
3. Nature of the times voter – 24% of the people linked good or bad times to the party in control and vote the opposite (usually based on economics).
4. No Issue Content – 22% of the people could give no reason
“Neo-Cons”
• Neo-Conservatives
1. Low tax, pro-economic growth
2. Ordered approach to domestic issues– Traditional values – pro-life, against gay
marriage, support death penalty
3. Expansive foreign policy• Counter global terrorism – “war on terror”• expensive