Suchergebnisse

Statewide opinion polls from the Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi conducted during the 1990s are employed to examine the public's images of the parties, racial differences in those images, and their correlates with party identification. Racial issues appear to exert little effect over whites' partisan identifications, as a diversity of other issues that Republicans have favorable images on, such as crime and traditional values, are more important to whites. Racial differences do exist on perceptions of the two parties' strengths, as well as on the issues most salient in shaping each race's partisan ties. Racial differences in the images of the parties are the primary explanation for racial differences in party identification.

This study of call-in poll participants indicates that although such participants are generally similar - in socio-demographics - to the population as a whole, they are more opinionated than are telephone survey respondents. The study confirms that call-in polls and surveys of the population do not necessarily produce similar information concerning public opinion and that decision makers need to be sensitive to the intensity of opinion held by voters.

Southern politics has changed dramatically during the past half century. While new developments have touched virtually every aspect of the region's politics, change has been especially marked in the South's political party and electoral systems. Southern Parties and Elections explores the contemporary developments in party realignment and examines the relationship between regional party change and electoral behavior and the larger patterns in national politics