UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENTALISM IN A RED,AGRICULTURAL STATE: THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE

The red state-blue state characterization of American society geographically categorizes the U.S. into Republican and Democrat states, with the assumption that the gulf between the states is broad and deep in many issues and policies. Given this presumed division, this research examines three dimensions of environmentalism to determine if political party identification is indeed a useful predictor of environmentalism when taking into consideration a person's place of residence and several other social demographic influences. Data come from a 2003 phone survey of 606 residents in Nebraska. Nebraska provides a good test of how much political party identification matters in understanding environmentalism when the population is generally conservative, with traditional ties to extractive commodity production. The findings show that political party identification is significant in understanding environmentalism and that place of residence does not affect environmentalism. However, while the findings reveal that political party identification is an important predictor of environmentalism, both Republicans and Democrats show a relatively strong support for the environment.     

THE HOLLOW REALIGNMENT PARTISAN CHANGE IN A CANDIDATE-CENTERED ERA

In 1984 identification with the Republican party increased tothe point where the plurality of Democrats over Republicansreached its lowest point since such measurements began in 1952.Yet the realignment is a hollow one between two parties whostill have a weak image in the public mind and an uncertainrole in the future of American government. While the balanceof power between the two parties shifted, the importance ofpolitical parties to the electorate remained at an historicallyweak level. Split-ticket voting continued to be high and roughlya third of the electorate had nothing to say-either positiveor negative-about both the parties. In short, realignment occurredin 1984 without party revitalization and the reestablishmentof the linkage between parties and candidates.     

Sozialstrukturelle Interessenlagen und Parteipräferenz in Deutschland

Based on Allbus data, stability and change of the impact of social structurally defined interests on party preference in Germany is investigated. We use both traditional cleavage indicators like union membership or frequency of church attendance and further social structural characteristics like class identification, occupation or unemployment experience. We apply a two-level model with varying intercepts for the 16 Allbus surveys from 1980 to 2008. Beyond the expected results we observe some deviations from the stable relationship between social structural variables and party preference. (1) The younger generation of active Catholics prefers the Christian Democrats less than the older cohorts and the East German working class leaned towards this party immediately after unification. (2) Union members got alienated from the Social Democrats since 2004 due to reforms of unemployment benefits for people being out of work for a longer period of time with the consequence that Die Linke could profit from this trend in West and East Germany. (3) This left socialist party and its forerunner, the PDS, has always been the preferred party of people with unemployment experience. (4) The Greens and the Liberal Party are enduringly supported by specific social groups, the Greens by the social and cultural service class and the FDP by the self-employed, at least since this latter party ended the social liberal coalition with the SPD in 1982.     

Gender Differences in the Effects of Personality Traits on Party Identification in the United States

This study examines whether the Big Five personality traits have different effects on male and female party identification in the United States. Research has found associations between personality traits and partisanship in the United States. However, there is solid evidence of gender differences in personality traits, and past studies have not yet considered whether personality-partisanship relationship might be gender-differentiated. This study finds that with the increase of agreeableness, women tend to be Republicans, but men tend to be Democrats. Furthermore, as openness to experience increases, women are more likely to be strong partisans, but men are more likely to be independents or leaning partisans. To sum up, this study provides evidence that the effects of the Big Five personality traits on party identification vary by gender and suggests that it is wrong to assume that the Big Five personality traits have the same impacts on male and female party identification.     

A contradiction in terms? migrant activists in the Sweden Democrats party

Right-wing, xenophobic and racist parties have enjoyed immense successes in Europe in recent decades. In Sweden, the third-largest party in Parliament is the Sweden Democrats (SD), with 13% in the 2014 general election. Sympathy for the SD among foreign-born Swedish citizens, both women and men, is far lower than among Sweden-born men, but an increasing number of Swedish citizens with migrant backgrounds support the party. The aim of this article is to explore the subject positions open for citizens with migrant background in the Swedish public space with special focus on the identities and worldviews developed by migrant activists who have joined the SD party and are, to differing degrees, racialised and perceived as non-Swedish. Using the concept of migrant respectability, this research is intended to understand why and under what circumstances migrants chose to join and represent a xenophobic and racist party.     

How media diet,partisan frames,candidate traits,and political organization-public relationship communication drive party reputation

This study examined the ability of antecedents such as media diet and candidate traits to impact political organization-public relationships (POPRs), in turn affecting views on party reputation. As expected, survey respondents reported greater levels of relationship-focused communication and higher reputation assessments of their own parties, additionally rating their party’s candidate higher in authenticity and character. Connecting media diet and reputation, heavier use of partisan, traditional media (e.g., talk radio and cable news) indicated increased partisan divides, suggesting young and often inexperienced voters engage in motivated reasoning, seeking out information from sources that cater to their existing ideologies. This pattern was less pronounced for infotainment and social media sources, suggesting promising agenda-building opportunities for political PR practitioners. SEM analyses demonstrated the significant influence of candidate traits and POPR on party reputation, though manifestations of effects differed among Democrats and Republicans, the implications of which are discussed.     

THE ELECTORATE'S PARTISAN EVALUATIONS: EVIDENCE OF A CONTINUING DEMOCRATIC EDGE

Scholars have devoted a good deal of attention to studying changesin how the public evaluates the Democratic and Republican parties.However, there have been few attempts to examine the underlyingcomponents of the changes in these over all evaluations of theparties in detail. By recoding the Center for Political Studies'open-ended likes/dislikes questions for parties, this papermaps change in the underlying partisan evaluations of the electoratesince 1952. The results suggest that the Democrats have remainedthe favored party, despite some gains by the GOP in recent years.Of the eight issues studied, the Republicans have made significantinroads only on the economic front. The findings also highlightthe obstacles that face the Republican's effort to gain majoritystatus, suggesting why it has remained the minority party forover 50 years, and why it is likely to remain in that positionin the near future.     

Religious Involvement and Political Behavior: a Log-linear Analysis of White Americans, 1952-1968*

The political distinctiveness of major American religious groupings is well-documented, but the role of church attendance in maintaining these cleavages has been unclear. Analysis of white respondents in five national surveys covering 16 years reveals that church attendance is significantly related to party identification and presidential vote in all but one instance. Application of Goodman's log-linear analysis of contingency tables shows that higher rates of church attendance are related to non-Democratic preferences among Protestants and Democratic preferences among Catholics. In several years, the relationship depends as well upon region of residence. The effects, particularly on the vote, seem to be changing systematically over time as the South becomes politically similar to the non-South.     

Partisan Political Identification among White Ethnic Groups: An Historical Analysis

Abstract

This article presents evidence and argument dealing with partisan political identification among white ethnic groups. Recently, numerous political commentators and analysts have argued that the ethnic-labor component of the New Deal coalition is in the midst of collapse and decay, and that white ethnics are re-aligning with the Republican Party. Through an analysis of public opinion data gathered between 1936 and 1974, the partisan re-alignment theory is critically examined. The data show little or no support for the idea that Catholic and Jewish ethnics are identifying more closely with the Republican Party. Data show that degree of identification with the Democrats is nearly the same in 1974 as it was in 1936.     

Ambitious Political Woman:

Using data from a survey of local party officials, this study tests the hypothesis that the ambitions of women and men in the initial stage of recruitment are differentially influenced by socialization and party system context. The hypothesis that the ambitions of women more than of men and of Democrats more than of Republicans are related to socialization experiences is supported for the Democratic and Republican women but not for the men of the two parties. Patterns of socialization are found to vary by party and sex, although all activists are influenced by social ization across the life cycle; and all the ambitious are in earlier stages of the life cycle than the unambitious. The concept of countersocialization is introduced to explain the development of ambitious political women. Countrsocialization and politicization around gender-related issues in politics are not expected to restructure political conflict along a sexbased cleavage of the political elite. Rather, the political party context is expected to determine which ambitious women and men gain office and carry their concerns into the decision-making arenas.     

THE POLITICIZATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLARIZATION IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC'S VIEWS OF GLOBAL WARMING, 2001–2010

We examine political polarization over climate change within the American public by analyzing data from 10 nationally representative Gallup Polls between 2001 and 2010. We find that liberals and Democrats are more likely to report beliefs consistent with the scientific consensus and express personal concern about global warming than are conservatives and Republicans. Further, the effects of educational attainment and self‐reported understanding on global warming beliefs and concern are positive for liberals and Democrats, but are weaker or negative for conservatives and Republicans. Last, significant ideological and partisan polarization has occurred on the issue of climate change over the past decade.     

Macropartisanship in California

Political scientists have devoted considerable, well-justifiedattention to changes in macropartisanship at the national levelbut have generally ignored movement in aggregate party identificationat the American state level. The case of California is especiallyinteresting for a number of reasons, most notably because ofthe potential impact of rapid ethnic change on aggregate politicalattitudes. In this article we assess macropartisanship in theGolden State from 1980 through 2001, drawing on Field Pollsof California adults. We find that essentially there have beentwo eras in recent state history: a period of increasing Republicanidentification up to 1991 and an era of increasing Democraticidentification thereafter. Some of this apparent movement tothe Democrats among Californians as a whole is attributableto the increasing Latino share of the Field Poll samples andthe decision to offer the survey in Spanish. However, therehas also been movement toward the Democratic Party within ethnicand racial subgroups. This movement can be found to some degreein all major groups (except for African Americans, who werealready overwhelmingly identified with the Democratic Party),but it has been especially pronounced among Latinos and AsianAmericans. We consider possible reasons and discuss potentialimplications.     

SURPRISE ME IF YOU CAN: THE INFLUENCE OF NEWSPAPER ENDORSEMENTS IN U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

We here evaluate the heterogeneous effects of newspaper endorsements of U.S. Presidential candidates in the 100 days preceding the 2008 and 2012 elections on the probability that they win the election. Our identification strategy relies on daily variations in the winning probabilities (obtained from the Intrade prediction market) and the fact that newspapers decide their endorsements weeks before their announcement. Endorsements that are classified as surprising and consistent have the largest effect. An endorsement is surprising when the newspaper has not traditionally endorsed the candidate's party. An endorsement is inconsistent when the newspaper leans ideologically to one party but endorses a candidate from another party. (JEL L82, D7)     

More than ideology: perceived unfairness differentiates supporters of a new anti-austerity party from supporters of traditional left-wing parties / Más que ideología: la injusticia percibida diferencia a los simpatizantes de un nuevo partido antiausteridad de los simpatizantes de los partidos tradicionales de izquierda

After the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2008, anti-austerity parties in South Europe have gained prominence and dramatically transformed the political landscape. In Spain, the emergence of PODEMOS, a left-wing, anti-austerity party, has jeopardized the traditional two-party system. However, little is known about the psychological reasons that prompted more than one million Spaniards to vote for a newly created party in its first elections. To fill this gap the present study examines why people intend to vote for PODEMOS as opposed to traditional left-wing parties. We found that in addition to conventional predictors of voting behaviour (ideological orientation and party identification), perceived unfairness — a key variable within the collective action theory — critically influenced the preference for PODEMOS as opposed to traditional left-wing parties. A qualitative analysis of the reasons that participants reported in an open question yielded similar results. These findings suggest that supporting an anti-austerity party might be considered a collective action aimed at promoting social change.     

I Am Woman,Hear Me Tweet! Gender Differences in Twitter Use among Congressional Candidates

This study synthesizes two theoretical literatures to explain gender differences in Twitter usage and effectiveness among US Congressional candidates. The first suggests that candidates in perceived disadvantaged positions, females in this case, innovate to improve their chances of success, and the second, that female politicians often adopt stereotypically masculine behaviors to be successful. On the basis of these theories, we hypothesize and confirm that female candidates are more likely than males to integrate Twitter into their campaigns, but our results are less conclusive regarding a difference in the likelihood that females use negative campaigning tactics via Twitter. Our results also indicate that those females who use Twitter more than their male counterparts tended to do better electorally, but this difference is conditional. Female Republican candidates who tweeted more increased their vote share, but the opposite is true for Democrats. We speculate that this differential effect may be a product of different audiences for social media in each party’s electorate.     

ARE THE HOMELESS TO BLAME?

Dominant ideology and public arenas theories yield different hypotheses concerning the incidence and antecedents of public beliefs about the causes of homelessness. The analysis reported here, which tests these hypotheses with data from a 1988 national telephone survey, shows that (1) more Americans believe structural rather than individualistic factors cause homelessness, (2) personal statuses like gender, political orientation, and party affiliation significantly influence such causal beliefs, but (3) the single strongest determinant is the perceived presence of—and by implication, exposure to—homeless people in one's own community. Causal beliefs in turn affect policy attitudes: respondents who consider homelessness a structural problem are more likely to favor government action than those believing in individualistic causes. While mixed, the results as a whole provide somewhat greater support for the public arenas perspective.     

Predicting group consciousness among Asian Americans: Considering commonalities,shared interests,panethnic group identification,and linked fate

Identifying factors linked to the development of group consciousness is important toward bettering our understanding of group formation processes among marginalized ethnoracial groups. This study examines predictors of group consciousness among Asians and Asian Americans in the United States, focusing on numerous dimensions of this concept, including linked fate, panethnic group identification, and four specific sources of perceived group commonality and interests: (1) cultural, (2) economic, (3) political, and (4) racial. We use data from a national survey to examine socio-structural, political, discrimination, and immigration correlates associated with separate dimensions of Asian group consciousness. We found that perceiving interpersonal discrimination increased the importance of being Asian; heightened the odds of feeling linked fate with other Asian people; and enhanced the odds of identification as “Asian American.” Republicans and Independents were less likely to perceive different elements of Asian group consciousness compared to Democrats. Educational attainment, income, gender, employment status, ethnicity, and English-speaking comfortability had varying effects across certain measures of Asian group consciousness. For Asians and Asian Americans, interpersonal discrimination and certain socio-structural, political, and immigration factors may be especially meaningful toward the development of linked fate, shared group interests and commonalities, and panethnic identification, all of which are key toward activating group consciousness.     

Determinants of female labor force participation: A study of Seoul,South Korea, 1970–1980

This paper investigates the determinants of labor force participation of women living in male-headed households in Seoul, South Korea, at two points in time, 1970 and 1980. Analysis of data from the 1970 and 1980 Korean Population Censuses suggests that both women's educational level and the family economic status determine women's labor force participation in Seoul. Women with middle school education or above are more economically active than those with no education. Women from lower economic backgrounds are almost two to three times more likely to be employed than those in high-status families, controlling for age, number of children under 6, and marital status. However, this pattern is not found among women from the blue-collar wage-working families.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1988 meetings of the Population Association of America.     

Some Notes on Local Level Political Activism

Abstract

The large number of studies of the impact of Watergate have generally ignored its electoral repercussions. This paper helps to fill this void by reporting the results of a statewide panel study which investigated the effects of attitudes toward Watergate on shifts in political party identification between 1970 and 1974. We found a considerable amount of change in the partisan identifications of the panel members during the four years; however, while both parties suffered an overall loss of support to the “Independents,” the Republicans did lose considerably more support than did the Democrats. More importantly, the greater Republican losses were found to be significantly related to attitudes toward Watergate. It therefore appears that Watergate contributed to the shrinking proportion of Republicans within our panel. While the Republican losses were not of great magnitude, they appear sufficiently large to have had an effect on recent elections.     

Property rights in state legislatures: rural-urban differences in support for state anti-takings bills

In the 1990s over half of US states adopted bills redefining the unconstitutional “taking” of private property by government regulation. This article reports on analysis of legislative voting on these bills in five states. The researchers mapped district-by-district votes on anti-takings bills in five state legislatures and combined these maps with socioeconomic, political, land use, and land ownership data, to develop a portrait of support for and opposition to the legislation. Although the bills were a part of the national agenda of conservative Republicans to reshape social and environmental policy, the research shows that legislative support often crossed party lines, with rural and small-town Democrats and Republicans joining in support against outnumbered urban and suburban legislators, most of whom were Democrats but substantial numbers of whom were Republicans. The research results suggest that although the popularity of anti-takings bills may have waned, the bills may represent only one manifestation of deeper social, political, and economic forces that are almost bound to re-emerge in other forms in the future.