Partisanship and Group Voting II

1. Partisanship and Group Voting II POLS 4349 Dr. Brian William Smith

2. Office Hours • When • Today- 11-2 • Wed No Office Hours • And by appointment • Doyle 226B • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwzaxUF0k18

3. Learning Outcomes I • Evaluate how people develop political opinions and how this impacts their political behavior. • Evaluate and interpret the importance of partisanship in shaping political opinion and vote choice • Identify and describe the formal and informal institutions involved in the electoral process

4. Readings • Chapter 4: Partisans and Partisan Change (Flanigan) • Chapter 5: Social Characteristics of Partisans and Independents (Flanigan)

5. For Groups to Matter • It has to be big • It has to come out and vote • It has to be Loyal

6. Not That Important Social Class

7. Why not social class • The shared belief in equality of opportunity • We have never had an appreciable socialist movement • People identify with other groups before class

8. Measuring Social Class • We ask people which class they belong to • We are very likely to say middle class • Within Social classes there are great variations in income • Our partisanship doesn’t change with rising or lowering class.

9. Social Class and Partisanship Republicans Democrats Do better with poor and working class Do better with the very wealthiest Do better with Union Members • Do better with poor whites in the South • Do better with Upper Middle Class voters • Historically have done better with Middle Class voters

10. There is a Difference Age

11. Not as Big a Deal • Age is not as important as other factors in determining partisanship • Young voters tend to be less interested in the system • Young voters tend to be more Democratic

12. Race and ethnicity

13. The American Electorate • Race is more important than class • African Americans form a political self-conscious group. And Identify with the Democratic Party

14. African American Turnout • This has increased since the 1960’s • African Americans are heavily Democratic • Important swing voters in battleground states

16. Hispanic Voters • The Fastest growing and largest ethnicity • Increasingly Democratic since 2000 • Key in CO, FL, NM in 2008

17. Gender

18. Facts on the Ground • Women vote more than men • The Gender Gap • Women vote more for Democratic Candidates • Issue ownership

19. Size of the Gender Gap • Ranges from 5-10 Points • Security Moms in 2004 • Obama wins both men and women

20. Married vs. Single Women • Married women vote more Republican • Self-Identified Feminists are very Democratic

22. Ideology A way of looking at Politics

23. What is an Ideology • A set of Fundamental beliefs about government and politics • They fit together into some consistent and coherent view of the political world • How should government work?

24. Identifying Ideologies • Americans are able to identify themselves • Americans are able to identify the relative ideological positions of the parties.

25. More Moderates and Conservatives

26. It is Not the Same as Party Identification!

27. It Tends to be stable

28. Figure 4.8 The public’s policy “mood,” 1952–2008

29. College Kids Tend to Be Liberal

31. Ideologies vary on Issues

32. Ideologies vary on Social Issues in Particular

33. Many voters Cannot Use Ideology Meaningfully • Very Few of us are Politically sophisticated • Most of us group ideology based on the likes and dislikes of the parties and candidates they represent • A lot of us have no issue content whatsoever

34. Correspondence of Ideological Self-Ratings and Summary of Positions on Ten Issues, 2008

35. Levels of Political Conceptualization, 1956–2000