This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free All Versions of this Article: 1065912907312981v1 61/4/561    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Killian, M. Articles by Wilcox, C. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Do Abortion Attitudes Lead to Party Switching?

George Washington University, Washington, D.C, mkillian{at}gwu.edu

Clyde Wilcox

Georgetown University, Washington, D.C, wilcoxc{at}georgetown.edu

The notion that issues and ideology can move partisanship remains controversial. The authors explore the stronger claim that issues can lead people to switch political parties and whether the effect of abortion attitudes is asymmetrical (i.e., abortion attitudes may influence party switching in only one direction). They show that in several short-term National Election Studies panels, pro-life Democrats were significantly more likely than other Democrats to become Republicans, but pro-choice Republicans were not likely to become Democrats. However, using panel data over a long time frame, 1982 to 1997, the authors also demonstrate that the cumulative effect of abortion attitudes led pro-life Democrats and pro-choice Republicans to switch parties.

Key Words: party identification • abortion • party switching • changes in party identification

This version was published on December 1, 2008

Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 4, 561-573 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1065912907312981


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?