Suchergebnisse

During the 2004 and 2006 general elections, a number of states considered different moral policy ballot measures, including marriage definition, abortion bans, and stem cell research. Although more moral policy measures were voted on in the last two general elections, this is certainly not the first time that moral issues have been placed on the ballot. Some political pundits, during these elections, suggested that increased voter turnout in some states was due to these ballot measures. This research examines whether or not the presence of a moral policy measure on a given state's ballot generates higher voter turnout. I find that moral policy ballot measures generate higher turnout in midterm elections but not in presidential elections. Adapted from the source document.

Assumes that (1) the demand for sin is characterized by heterogeneous preferences, & (2) private behavior diverges from public statements. From these assumptions, a series of propositions about morality policy are derived. Rational politicians will perceive that demand for restrictive policies will be greater than it actually is & thus compete to produce more extreme policies. Bureaucracies will lack expertise & thus will not provide a check on political excesses. This "politics of sin" can be translated into a contemporary form of redistributive morality policy politics if the issue can be reframed by political actors to legitimate an opposition position. It is argued formally that sin policies in general will fail because they operate on subsets of the population that are more & more resistant to the policy instruments available to government. Potential expansions of this theory, including how it might be generalized to other types of public policy, are considered. 6 Figures, 25 References. Adapted from the source document.

Objective. Scholars continue to debate whether morally charged political issues constitute a distinct type of policy question or produce essentially the same political dynamic as public controversies lacking an overt moral dimension. The debate will not be resolved until scholars test the determinants of putative morality policies with predictors drawn both from morality politics theory & from the socioeconomic factors that account for the distribution of many other public policies. This study reports such a test. Methods. We analyze data from our national survey of directors of school-based health centers. We use ordinary least squares regression models to predict the level of reproductive health care services provided to adolescents. Results. Service levels were influenced not only by cultural considerations, as morality politics theory would anticipate, but also by the same socioeconomic forces that account for policy levels in other domains. Conclusions. Policy for morality issues appears different from that for nonmorality issues but less distinctive than commonly imagined. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 40 References. Adapted from the source document.