Suchergebnisse

Examines the cue selection process, and assumes that choosing a cue-source is functional and designed to help legislators accomplish their goals. Argues that intense policy preferences predispose legislators to seek cues from policy specialists, while those who believe that an issue is salient to their district will be more likely to seek cues from sources who can provide information about the district's preferences. (Abstract amended)

FOR YEARS, STUDENTS OF ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR HAVE ACCEPTED THE "MICHIGAN" CONCEPTUALIZATION OF PARTY IDENTIFICATION AS STABLE, ENDURING, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL (I.E., CAPABLE OF INFLUENCING OTHER POLITICAL ATTITUDES). MORE RECENTLY, FLEXIBLE MODELS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED, LARGELY TO ACCOUNT FOR THE INCREASING INSTABILITY AND FLUIDITY OF PARTY ID OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES. YET, THE FLEXIBLE MODELS ARE UNABLE TO EXPLAIN THE RATHER REMARKABLE PRESERVANCE OF PARTY ID AMONG A LARGE PORTION OF THE ELECTORATE. THIS ESSAY SYNTHESIZES THESE TWO MODELS OF PARTISANSHIP, UTILIZING THE SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF STEREOTYPING. PARTISANSHIP AND STEREOTYPES SHARE A NUMBER OF COMMON CHARACTERISTICS. BY RECONCEPTUALIZING PARTISANSHIP AS A STEREOTYPED VIEW OF A POLITICAL PARTY, WE ARE ABLE TO EXPLAIN CURRENT TRENDS TOWARD PARTY DEALIGNMENT, AS WELL AS NUMEROUS OTHER PARADOXES AND FINDINGS WHICH HAVE PUZZLED STUDENTS OF ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR.

Past studies have found evidence of a connection between race & crime in the minds of many white Americans, but several gaps remain in our knowledge of this association. Here, a multimethod approach was used to examine more closely the racial component of whites' support for ostensibly race-neutral crime policies. Conventional correlational analysis showed that negative stereotypes of African Americans -- specifically, the belief that blacks are violent & lazy -- are an important source of support for punitive policies such as the death penalty & longer prison terms. A survey experiment further showed that negative evaluations of black prisoners are much more strongly tied to support for punitive policies than are negative evaluations of white prisoners. These findings suggest that when many whites think of punitive crime policies to deal with violent offenders, they are thinking of black offenders. 2 Tables, 36 References. Adapted from the source document.

THIS ARTICLE USES NATIONAL ELECTION STUDIES PANEL DATA TO INVESTIGATE PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE MAJOR REVELATIONS IN THE IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIR TO DETERMINE THE REASONS BEHIND THE EROSION OF PRESIDENT REAGAN'S SUPPORT BASE AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUALS WHO DID, AND DID NOT, ADJUST THEIR VIES OF THE PRESIDENT SUBSEQUENT TO THE REVELATIONS, IT FINDS THAT HIS PERFORMANCE WAS MOST SERIOUSLY QUESTIONED BY THOSE DISAPPROVING OF HIS CENTRAL AMERICAN POLICY.