The Structure and Stability of Political Attitudes
Findings From the 1974-76 Dearborn Panel Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6370635 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frank Whelon Wayman, Ronald R Stockton |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 329 |
| Publication date | 1983-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Public Opinion Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-362X • E-ISSN: 1537-5331 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1086/268794 |
| OpenAlex | W2114176357 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
This article examines the structure and stability of public opinion between the 1972 and 1976 presidential elections. The data consist of a four-wave panel study of 800 residents in Dearborn, Michigan; interviews were conducted in the spring of 1974, 1975, and 1976 and in the fall of 1976 immediately after the presidential election. The paper focuses on the structure of political attitudes, the stability of attitudes, and the impact of attitudes on the presidential votes. A central thesis is that public opinion can be disaggregated into two clusters—the Disintegration Cluster and the Alignment Cluster—one of which disrupts and one of which reinforces partisan voting. On the basis of correlations between the seven factors making up the clusters, we anticipate neither a rapid realignment nor a disintegration of the party system, but instability, with election outcomes affected by attitudinal factors salient to a specific campaign. We find signs of increased crystallization of political attitudes compared to the 1956–1958–1960 national panel. Finally, our voting studies indicate that the Disintegration Cluster had a significant effect on the 1972 election, but that issues in general had little impact in 1976, once controls were introduced for party identification and candidate image
Cluster (spacecraft · Demographic economics · Econometrics · Economics · Panel data · Panel survey · Political science · Politics · Presidential election · Presidential system · Public opinion · Salient · Voting · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Media and Politics
| Citations per year | 0.03 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1987 - 1987 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |