Religion and Family Values in Presidential Voting.

POLITICAL parties; POLITICAL campaigns; VOTING; IDEOLOGY; SOCIAL values; FAMILIES

It is well known that ideological factors enter into the presidential voting decision. Whether such factors have impact over and beyond steering voters into one or another party is more difficult to discern, however, a dilemma complicated by the various dimensions arty ideology may contain. This article looks specifically at two such dimensions in the elections of 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992: the religious dimension and the family values dimension. In the elections of the 1980s, these two dimensions appear to have had no impact over and beyond party identification and a modest additional impact of a generalized ideological outlook. In 1992, however, both dimensions outweighed all other ideological components, with the family values dimension playing an especially potent sea, rate role. The article concludes with some speculation on the implications these findings have for two major political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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