This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1065912908322415v1 62/3/538    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 Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Claassen, R. L. Articles by Highton, B. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Policy Polarization among Party Elites and the Significance of Political Awareness in the Mass Public

Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, rclaasse{at}kent.edu

Benjamin Highton

University of California, Davis, bhighton{at}ucdavis.edu

This article analyzes opinions about abortion, racial, and social welfare policies, comparing their determinants among citizens with different levels of political information over the past several decades. Hypothesizing that growing elite partisan polarization may have exacerbated the political implications of differences in political awareness, the authors examine how increasing clarity of party—policy linkages among political elites influences party—policy linkages in the mass public. The results show that only the well informed responded to the growing elite polarization by becoming more partisan in their opinions. Apparently, in the absence of the motivation to develop coherent opinions, even a simplification of the political environment does not close the gaps between those who are more and less aware about politics.

Key Words: polarization • party identification • issues • political awareness

This version was published on September 1, 2009

Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 62, No. 3, 538-551 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1065912908322415


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