Political Beliefs and Behaviors

1. Political Beliefs and Behaviors American political ideology

2. 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

3. 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, but when asked, many people will lie and “say” they voted.

4. Who REALLY participates? Different factors can tell us who votes • Education – MOST IMPORTANT, more education=more voting • Religious involvement • Race and Ethnicity – Whites higher than minorities (might be economic based) • Age – 18-24 is the lowest, and 45 and up is the highest

5. Who REALLY participates? • Gender – men traditionally voted more, now it is more equal, women slightly more • 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

6. 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 – 56.8% • 2012 - ???

7. Expanding Suffrage • Lifting of property restrictions (1830) – “universal manhood suffrage” gave voting rights to all white males • Suffrage for African-Americans (1863-1964) • 1865 - 15th Amendment – Voting Rights to all • 1954 - Brown v. Board – separate but equal is illegal, killed Jim Crow laws • 1964 24th Amendment – banned poll tax • 1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 – federal law prohibited (no literacy tests, fair elections etc.)

8. Expanding Suffrage • Women’s Suffrage (1920) – 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote • 18-21 year-olds (1971) – 26th Amendment, sparked by Vietnam

9. 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

10. 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

11. Public Opinion • The distribution of individual attitudes about a particular issue, candidate, political institution, etc.

12. George Gallup • Developed “Gallup Polls” • Started in 1932 • 1st “pollster” • Since 1936, agency has picked one general election result incorrect

13. 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

14. Political Socialization • Factors that influence a person’s opinion • People in different social “groups” tend to share certain opinions: group identification

15. Family • #1 influence of political attitude • Very strong correlation for Political Party support • Yes, believe it or not, you are much more like your parents than you want to be or will ever admit • And as you get older, you become even more like them

16. 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)

17. Religion Example • Protestants are more conservative on economic matters than Catholics or Jews • Jews tend to be 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 becoming more conservative)

18. Education Example • Higher Education = more conservative or • College education = liberal views Conflicting results, not always a correlation

19. Social Class • “Blue collar” (Laborer) typically Democrat • “White collar” (Businessmen) typically Republican Relationship is becoming less clear

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. How ideological are Americans? • 1950 study – “The American Voter” • 4 basic types of voter • Ideologues – 12% of people connect their opinions to party lines • Group Benefits Voter – 42% of people connect their opinion to their “group”. (labor union, interest group, class, race)

24. 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). This means if the economy is good we keep the current party, if the economy goes bad, we boot them out. 4. No Issue Content – 22% of the people could give no reason

25. Liberal vs. Conservative • (see handout)

26. “Neo-Cons” • Neo-Conservatives • Low tax, pro-economic growth • Ordered approach to domestic issues • Traditional values – pro-life, against gay marriage, support death penalty • Expansive foreign policy • Counter global terrorism – “war on terror” • expensive

27. Exit Polls • Polling after voting • Tommy Bradley effect • 2008 some whites said they were going to vote for Obama yet they actually voted for McCain. • Why? • Theory – didn’t want to open themselves to criticism of racial motivation???