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The Differences Between the Parties. You Can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Clearly Communicated Learning Objectives. Evaluate how people develop political opinions and how this impacts their political behavior.
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The Differences Between the Parties You Can’t tell the players without a scorecard
Clearly Communicated Learning Objectives • 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
Not That Important Social Class
Why not social class • The Parties do not try to exploit social class • We have never had an appreciable socialist movement • People identify with other groups before class
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.
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
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
The American Electorate • Race is more important than class • African Americans form a political self-conscious group. And Identify with the Democratic Party
African American Turnout • This has increased since the 1960’s • African Americans are heavily Democratic • Important swing voters in battleground states
Hispanic Voters • The Fastest growing and largest ethnicity • Increasingly Democratic since 2000 • Key in CO, FL, NM
Facts on the Ground • Women vote more than men • The Gender Gap • Women vote more for Democratic Candidates • Issue ownership
Size of the Gender Gap • Ranges from 5-10 Points • Security Moms in 2004 • Obama wins both men and women
Married vs. Single Women • Married women vote more Republican • Self-Identified Feminists are very Democratic
Ideology A way of looking at Politics
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?
Identifying Ideologies • Americans are able to identify themselves • Americans are able to identify the relative ideological positions of the parties.
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
Correspondence of Ideological Self-Ratings and Summary of Positions on Ten Issues, 2008