Political Beliefs and Behaviors
American political ideology
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
American Political
Culture
• Political Culture – a set of widely shared
beliefs and values
• Values & Beliefs – deep-rooted ideals that
shape one’s perception of political issues
• Opinion – a specific view about a particular
issue or event (not always objective)
• Public Opinion – attitudes about institutions,
leaders, political issues, and events
CORE VALUES
• Liberty and Freedom
– Freedom of speech and religion are
fundamental parts of American political
culture
– People should be free to lead their lives
with minimal government interference
CORE VALUES
• Equality
– Political equality – all adult citizens should
have equal voting rights
– Legal Equality – everyone is entitled to equal
treatment before the law
– Equality of opportunity – all Americans should
have a chance to succeed in life
CORE VALUES
• Individualism
– Respect for the dignity and importance of
each individual
– People should be responsible for their own
decisions and well-being
CORE VALUES
• Democracy
– Government should be based on the consent
of the governed
– The majority has the right to rule
– The rights of the minority need to be
respected and protected
– Citizens have the responsibility to support
their local communities
TEST TIP
• Many released tests have included
questions asking students to identify an
answer that is NOT a core value of
American political culture
• Remember - American political culture
does support economic opportunity but it
does not support economic equality
Political Socialization
• The process by which political values are
formed and passed from one generation to
the next
• People in different social “groups” tend to
share certain opinions: group identification
Family
• The #1 most important agent
of political socialization
• Very strong correlation for Political Party
support
– Children raised in households where both
parents strongly identify with the same
political party are likely to identify with that
political party themselves
Mass Media
• The major source of political news
• The “new parent”
• The Mass Media provides news in small
biased pieces called “sound bytes”
• There are now cable channels, satellite
radio channels, websites, blogs, and other
media that cater to and reinforce political
ideologies rather than report facts
Education
• Schools attempt to instill the basic values and
political culture of democracy.
• A college education often leads to more liberal
views, but more conservative views are often
tied to the wealthy – most of whom have a high
level of education, but are older.
• College graduates do have a higher level of
political participation than non-graduates.
Social Groups
• People in different social “groups” tend to
share certain opinions: group identification
• “Blue collar” (Laborer) typically are
Democrats
• “White collar” (Businessmen) typically are
Republicans
* Relationship is becoming less clear in
recent elections
Gender
• More men support defense spending,
more women support health care issues
• More women consider sexual harassment
a serious problem than do men
• Since ’60s, women vote Democratic more
than men, and vice versa
• Not as significant of an indicator as
marriage (married vs. unmarried)
Race and Ethnicity
• African Americans – 90% Democrats
• Hispanic Americans – tend to affiliate with
Democrats, but less likely than African
Americans (Cubans lean Republican)
• Asian Americans – less liberal than
Hispanic Americans or African Americans,
but still consistently vote Democrat
• White, more divided, fluctuates by election
Religion
• Protestants are more conservative on economic
matters than Catholics or Jews
• Jews tend to be more liberal on economic and
social issues than Catholics or Protestants
• Catholics tend to be more liberal on economic
issues than they are on social issues (Catholics
are becoming more conservative)
• The “Religious Right” is very socially
conservative, especially about gay marriage,
school prayer, and abortion
Political Ideology
• Coherent set of values and beliefs about
public policy and the role of government
• The terms “liberal” and “conservative”
mean different things at different time
periods
• The extreme wings of both views have
become more influential in recent years
The American Voter
• 1950’s study of the American electorate
• Divided voters into 4 groups:
– Ideologues (12%) – strong connection to the policy
positions of the major parties
– Group Benefits Voter (42%) – political views based
mainly on groups they liked or disliked
– Nature of the Times Voters (24%) – opinions based
on whether things were personally going well or
poorly
– No Issue Content Voter (22%) – voted based on the
likeability of the candidate rather than ideology or
issues
Conservative Ideology
• Supports
–
–
–
–
Expansion of military power
Free-market solution to economic problems
Less government regulation of business
School prayer
• Opposes
– Expensive federal social and welfare programs
– Abortion rights
– National health care system
Liberal Ideology
• Supports
–
–
–
–
–
Political and social reform
Government regulation of business/the economy
Abortion rights
National health care system
Expanded programs for the poor, minorities, & women
• Opposes
– Increased military spending
– Committing troops to foreign wars
– School prayer
“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
Geographic Region
Examples:
• 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 Southerners always less liberal
Public Opinion
• The distribution of individual attitudes
about a particular policy issue, candidate,
political institution, etc.
• Today, these opinions are most often
communicated through the media in the
form of polls
George Gallup
• Developed “Gallup Polls”
• Started in 1932 - 1st “pollster”
• Since 1936, Gallup’s agency has picked two
general election winners incorrectly (‘48 & ‘76)
Sampling
• Representative – must mirror population you
want to be surveyed
• Random – give everyone in the target population
an equal possibility of being sampled
• Sample size – 1500 to 2000 is enough
• Wording – questions can’t be leading
• Conduct the poll by phone or in person
• Straw poll – poor polling technique due to
unscientific methods (straw in the wind)
• Cell phones have made polling less accurate
Exit Polls
• Polling after voting
• Tommy Bradley effect (aka Wilder effect)
– a theory proposed to explain observed discrepancies between
voter polls and outcomes in elections where a white candidate
and a non-white candidate run against each other
– voters will tell pollsters they are undecided or likely to vote for a
black candidate, while on election day they vote for the white
candidate
– named after Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, an AfricanAmerican who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite
being ahead in voter polls going into the elections
– The Bradley effect theorizes that the inaccurate polls were
skewed by the phenomenon of social desirability bias
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
*** Women did have full voting rights in New York and
several western states prior to 1920
4. 23rd Amendment (1961) – District of Columbia
residents able to vote for the president
5. 18-21 year-olds (1971) – 26th Amendment,
sparked by Vietnam
*** States can establish a lower minimum voting age if
they choose to do so
Types of Participation
• Conventional Participation
– Voting in elections.
– Working in campaigns or running for office.
– Contacting elected officials.
– Ringing doorbells for a petition.
– Running for office.
Types of Participation
• Protest as Participation
– Protest – Designed to achieve policy
changes through dramatic and
unconventional tactics.
– Civil disobedience – Reflects a conscious
decision to break a law believed to be
immoral and to suffer the consequences.
– Violence – Riots and fighting.
Voting
Presidential Elections
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1964 – 69.3%
1980 – 41.3%
1984 – 60.9%
1988 – 40.5%
1992 – 55.2%
1996 – 49.1%
2000 – 51.3%
2004 – 55.3%
2008 – 61.6%
2012 – 58.2%
Who REALLY
participates?
1. Education – MOST IMPORTANT, more
education=more voting
*Increased level of education historically means one is
more likely to vote Republican
**2008 was an exception
2. Religious involvement
*Jews and Catholics more likely to vote than
Protestants
**Jews and Catholics more likely to vote democratic
than are Protestants
Who REALLY
participates?
3. Race and Ethnicity – Whites tend to have
higher turnout than minorities (might be
economically based)
*A major shift of African American voters from the
Republican to Democratic party occurred during the
1930’s under FDR
4. Age – 18-24 is the lowest, and 45 and up is
the highest (turnout does decrease after age
70)
*Young voters trend Democrat, older voters
Republican
Who REALLY
participates?
5. Gender – men traditionally voted more,
now women are 54% of all voters
*women tend to favor Democrats, men
generally favor Republicans
**This is known as the gender gap
6. Marital Status – married people vote at a
higher rate than unmarried people
Who REALLY
participates?
7. Income – people with more money are
more likely to vote
*lower income brackets tend to favor
Democrats, higher income voters
generally favor Republicans
8. Government Jobs – government workers
vote more than those with private sector
jobs
Other Reasons to Vote
• Motor Voter Act (1993) –allowed people to
register to vote while applying for or renewing a
driver’s license
• Competitive elections have better turnout
• Presidential elections have higher turnout
• “Civic Duty” – a belief that a citizen should
participate in the democratic process
• Citizens who see clear policy differences
between parties/candidates more likely to vote
Reduced Turnout
• Cross-cutting cleavages – voters often
belong to more than one group
• These individuals are influenced by many
different factors
• Anything producing cross-pressures will
likely reduce voter turnout
• It is important when polling or testing these
voters that variables are controlled
Other reasons for low
turnout
• Voter Registration – blamed as one of the
causes of low turnout – has reduced fraud
• Voter cynicism/distrust about government
• Decline of political efficacy
• Difficulty of Absentee Voting
• Number of Offices we elect too high
• Elections too frequent
• Weekday, non-holiday voting
• Weaker/less organized political parties – less
effective “get-out-the-vote” campaigns
Your Mission…
• Become educated about the
candidates and the issues
• Make sure that you are registered
•VOTE!!!!!!!!!!