CHAPTER SIx • PublIC OPInIOn, POlITICAl SOCIAlIzATIOn, And THE MEdIA 123
That said, it remains generally true that the higher a person’s income, the more likely
that person will be to vote Republican. Manual laborers, factory workers, and especially
union members are more likely to vote Democratic. Small-business owners, managers, and
corporate executives tend to vote Republican. As just noted, however, professionals such
as physicians, attorneys, and college instructors now tend to vote Democratic.Religious Denomination
Traditionally, scholars have examined the impact of religion on political attitudes by divid-
ing the population into such categories as Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. In recent
decades, however, such a breakdown has become less valuable as a means of predicting
someone’s political preferences. It is true that Jewish voters, as they were in the past, are
notably more liberal than members of other groups on both economic and cultural issues.
Persons reporting no religion are very liberal on social issues but have mixed economic
views. Protestants and Catholics, however, have grown closer to each other politically in
recent years. This represents something of a change—in the late 1800s and early 1900s,
northern Protestants were distinctly more likely to vote Republican, and northern Catholics
were more likely to vote Democratic. Even now, in a few parts of the country, Protestants
and Catholics tend to line up against each other when choosing a political party.Religious Commitment and Beliefs
Today, two factors turn out to be major predictors of political attitudes among members
of the various Christian denominations. One factor is the degree of religious commitment,
as measured by such actions as regular churchgoing. The other is the degree to which
the voter adheres to religious beliefs that (depending on the denomination) can be called
conser vative, evangelical, or fun damentalist. High scores on either factor are associated
with cultural conservatism on political issues—that is, with beliefs that place a high value
on social order. (See Chapter 1 for a discussion of the contrasting values of order and
liberty.)
In 2012, for example, Protestants who attended church weekly gave 70 percent of
their votes to Republican candidate Mitt Romney, compared with 55 percent of those who
attended church less often. Among Catholics, there was a similar pattern: 57 percent of
Catholics who attended church weekly voted for Romney, while 42 percent of Catholics
who were not regular churchgoers voted for him. There is an exception to this trend—
African Americans of all religious tendencies have been strongly supportive of Democrats.Race and Ethnicity
Although African Americans, on average, are somewhat conservative on certain cultural
issues, such as same-sex marriage and abortion, they tend to be more liberal than whites
on social-welfare matters, civil liberties, and even foreign policy. African Americans voted
principally for Republicans until Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s.
Since then, they have largely identified with the Democratic Party. Indeed, Democratic
presidential candidates have received, on average, more than 80 percent of the African
American vote since 1956. Of course, Barack Obama’s support among African Americans
has been overwhelming.
Most Asian American groups lean toward the Democrats, although Vietnamese
Americans are strongly Republican. Most Vietnamese Americans left Vietnam because of
the Communist victory in the Vietnam War, and their strong anticommunism translates
into conservative politics.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.