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A contribution to the debate over whether the US electorate has become more conservative over the past two decades. Trends in ideological self-identification along the liberal-conservative dimension are assessed using data from various surveys conducted between 1938 & 1986 by the U of Michigan's Center for Political Studies, the National Opinion Research Center, the media, & private organizations. Substantial "house" effects are evident in how such ideology questions are framed & in how the public characterized itself. While varying the number of response categories does not systematically alter the liberal/conservative ratio, the addition of a middle-of-the-road option does. It is shown that ideology is significantly related to party identification & to voting behavior in presidential elections. Though the public has consistently identified more with the liberal (Democratic) party, they personally identify themselves as conservative by two to one margins. This ideological balance has remained stable despite changes in political administrations. 10 Tables, 8 References. K. Hyatt

The public's self-identification as liberal or conservative; based on various opinion polls since the 1970s; U.S.

Data from four national survey organizations indicate a growing trend toward more conservative ideological identification in the public over the last decade. At the same time, however, the public is becoming increasingly liberal on many issues, particularly racial tolerance and women's rights. Since the election of Ronald Reagan the public seems divided also on welfare issues: while support is found for increased government spending on current social programs, the public increasingly opposes expanded government programs of additional services. Correlational analyses suggest that ideological identification is no more strongly related to specific issues than previously. Nonetheless, ideological identification continues to be a significant predictor of party identification and of voting in presidential elections.

Data from four national survey organizations indicate a growing trend toward more conservative ideological identification in the US public over the last decade, even though PO is more liberal on many issues, particularly racial tolerance & women's rights. Since the election of Ronald Reagan, the public seems divided also on welfare issues: while support is found for increased government spending on current social programs, there is increasing opposition to additional services. Correlational analyses suggest that ideological identification is no more strongly related to specific issues than previously. Nonetheless, the ideological identification continues to be a significant predictor of party identification & of voting in presidential elections. 1 Table, 1 Figure. HA.

The description of the way diverse groupings of individuals perceive objects in their environment has always been an intriguing area of soc-psychol'al res. The recent development of nonmetric multidimensional scaling techniques has opened up new res possibilities in this area. The specific res hereexplores how the differing views of the world of academic experts & members of the public can be represented geometrically by these new techniques. R's were asked to judge the 'similarity' of 17 countries, using whatever criteria of similarity they thought appropriate. In early 1964 this task was completed by 2 sets of R's: a random probability sample of 557 adults in the Detroit area & 148 faculty members from the U of Michigan. The mapping for the public sample showed a pronounced tendency to assign countries into 1 of 3 categories: pro-Western, Communist, & underdeveloped AfroAsian. The map for the academic sample indicated both finer perceptual diff'iation & far greater reliance on the criterion of ED than prevailed in the public. These maps remained essentially homogeneous within the 2 samples-for individuals with cliff educ'al backgrounds within the public, & for members of cliff academic disciplines at the U of Michigan. Attitudinal cliff's on internat'l issues were discovered that were congruent with cliff's in the 2 groups' perceptual maps of the world. AA.

In an examination of the role of interpersonal & mass media channels in public awareness & comprehension of major news stories, an attempt was made to determine actual comprehension of stories that had been in the news during the previous week by interviewing 2 separate probability samples (N = 407 & 544, respectively, in May & June 1983). R awareness & comprehension were measured & related to demographic, media-use, & interpersonal discussion variables. The findings indicate that conversation about the news is a major & often overlooked correlate of comprehension, & that interpersonal channels may play at least as important a role in the public's awareness & comprehension of the news as exposure to the news media. 3 Tables, 40 References. Modified AA