Party Identification,Issue Attitudes,and the Dynamics of Political Debate

This article investigates whether media coverage of elite debate surrounding an issue moderates the relationship between individual‐level partisan identities and issue preferences. We posit that when the news media cover debate among partisan elites on a given issue, citizens update their party identities and issue attitudes. We test this proposition for a quartet of prominent issues debated during the first Clinton term: health care reform, welfare reform, gay rights, and affirmative action. Drawing on data from the Vanderbilt Television News Archives and the 1992‐93‐94‐96 NES panel, we demonstrate that when partisan debate on an important issue receives extensive media coverage, partisanship systematically affects—and is affected by—issue attitudes. When the issue is not being contested, dynamic updating between party ties and issue attitudes ceases.     

Why George W. Bush Is a Unilateralist and How It Will Affect the 2004 Presidential Election

ABSTRACT

U.S. President George W. Bush has had a stormy relationship with Europe. Bush campaigned on a theme of putting America's interests first and eschewing multilateralism when necessary. Since taking office, Bush has been true to his campaign pledges. Bush's style and substance have caused many in Europe to regard him as a “buffoon” at best and a dangerous cowboy at worst. What the Europeans do not seem to understand is that, for better or worse, George W. Bush's view of the world is held by a substantial portion of the American people, and even when the U.S. had a more Euro-friendly leader in President Bill Clinton, America's policies were often at odds with those preferred by its allies in Europe. This is due to a fundamental difference that has developed between Europe and the United States over the last century. Today, no matter who occupies the White House, American foreign policy is likely to be in conflict with Europe's. Far from being a liability, this difference is likely to be a political asset to George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.     

新时代如何培养党员干部的理想信念

坚定理想信念,坚守共产党人精神追求,始终是共产党人安身立命的根本。一直以来,我党都要求党员干部拥有坚定的理想信念,坚定不移地为共产主义理想奋斗终生。在新时代,部分党员干部的理想信念出现偏差与动摇,应加强理想信念教育,重塑党员干部立身之本。     

Australian Federalism and the Debate Over a Bill of Rights

Successive Australian Labor governments have tried to nationalizestandards for the protection of rights either by means of astatutory bill binding on the states under the Commonwealth'smuch expanded external affairs power, or by further entrenchingspecific rights in the Constitution. All these attempts havefailed for a variety of political and constitutional reasonsincluding, importantly, the strength of Australia's establishedsystem of federalism and parliamentary responsible government.The article examines the constitutional issues underlying thedebate over a bill of rights for Australia, arguing that Labor'sattempts to implement a bill of rights have been inspired bya preference for more centralized government whereas the defeatof such initiatives indicates, the established strength of Australianfederalism.     

How New Economic Ideas Changed the Danish Welfare State: The Case of Neoliberal Ideas and Highly Organized Social Democratic Interests

The article argues that new economic ideas have exerted an independent causal effect on policy change in three major areas in the Danish welfare state: unemployment insurance, early retirement, and taxation. Thereby the Danish case bears resemblance to the paradigmatic shift from Keynesianism to monetarism in the United Kingdom. However, in the Danish case this paradigmatic shift did not coincide with a political shift to a right-wing government. This makes it possible to disentangle the intimate relationship between ideas and interests. It is argued that the Danish case provides one of the clearest examples of the independent causal effects of economic ideas because the Social Democrats pursued policies that compromised with the party's historically rooted positions and with the preferences of their electorate. Ideas and solutions did not come in one fixed package, however. But the new paradigm established some basic premises that were not up for discussion.     

How Language Can Influence Political Marketing Strategy and a Candidate's Image: Effect of Presidential Candidates' Language Intensity and Experience on College Students' Ratings of Source Credibility

The present study examines the effects of language intensity on presidential candidates' credibility. We manipulated language intensity levels and experience levels for hypothetical candidates for president of the United States. Manipulation checks confirmed the effectiveness of the experimental conditions. The dimensions of source credibility, character, and authoritativeness were confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis. Analysis of variance indicated that candidates using low-intensity language received higher scores on character than did candidates using high-intensity language. Experienced candidates received higher scores on authoritativeness than did inexperienced candidates. Implications for political marketing of candidates are discussed.     

完善党员权利保障机制问题探讨

健全党员权利保障机制是发展党内民主的基础和前提。党员权利保障机制的优劣直接决定着党内民主建设水平的高低。党员权利保障机制建设是一个系统工程,它由一系列相互影响、相互制约、相互依存的制度所构成,主要包括党内选举制度、党的代表大会制度、党的日常生活制度、党内监督制度和党员权利救济制度等。当前完善党员权利保障机制的着力点是建立和完善党内事务的咨询听证制度、党内监督制度和党员权利救济制度等。     

The Spillover of Racialization into Health Care: How President Obama Polarized Public Opinion by Racial Attitudes and Race

This study argues that President Obama's strong association with an issue like health care should polarize public opinion by racial attitudes and race. Consistent with that hypothesis, racial attitudes had a significantly larger impact on health care opinions in fall 2009 than they had in cross‐sectional surveys from the past two decades and in panel data collected before Obama became the face of the policy. Moreover, the experiments embedded in one of those reinterview surveys found health care policies were significantly more racialized when attributed to President Obama than they were when these same proposals were framed as President Clinton's 1993 reform efforts. Dozens of media polls from 1993 to 1994 and from 2009 to 2010 are also pooled together to show that with African Americans overwhelmingly supportive of Obama's legislative proposals, the racial divide in health care opinions was 20 percentage points greater in 2009–10 than it was over President Clinton's plan back in 1993–94.     

The Four Predicaments of American Liberalism: Challenges and Opportunities in a Presidential Election Year

The presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have indicated an apparent resurgence in American liberalism. More significantly, they have underlined both the highly problematic nature of the liberal legacy within the Democratic Party and the difficulties of mobilising liberal themes in the battle of ideas that characterises the conduct of politics in the United States. The article examines the difficulty of the issue by reference to four predicaments that persistently condition the status and deployment of liberal themes. In analysing the problems of strategy, historical narrative, political positioning and ideational engagement, the study analyses the negative connotations of contemporary liberalism, the multiple limitations of liberal reform, and liberalism's deficiencies in the politics of America's core ideas. A revived liberal prospectus will depend upon the ingenuity of liberal forces in challenging the conservative ascendancy in ideational competition, and in renegotiating a public settlement of their own with the central strands of political legitimacy.     

Testing a Predictive Model of Voter Behavior on the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

Utilizing a predictive model of voter behavior, this study identified the motivations behind a sample of voters who cast a ballot for George W. Bush and AI Gore in the 2000 presidential campaign. The motivations of the voters were differentiated on the basis of the “value” they sought in a president. In other words, just as companies in the “commercial marketplace” have to create value to attract customers, so does a candidate in the “political marketplace” who is seeking to carve out a niche for himself that separates him from his competition. Pairwise discriminant analysis is used to identify the motivations behind the choice behavior of voters at both the candidate and party level. The results reveal the complimentary roles that the political party and each candidate's campaign organization played in their respective marketing strategies.     

Naming Names in a Midwestern Town: The Salience of Democratic Presidential Hopefuls in Early 1992

The name diffusion of candidates seeking the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination as a function of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary is investigated in a survey among panel participants from a midwestern community. Controlling for political interest and media dependency predispositions, the comparative influence of media exposure and interpersonal discussion is demonstrated. In general, interpersonal communication influences are found to be dependent on media coverage dynamics, either complementing media effects when they are strong or substituting for media effects when they are nonexistent. The consequences for the party nomination momentum model, especially in regard to candidate viability, are discussed.     

Leaps of Faith in the Obesity Debate: a Cautionary Note for Policy Note for Policy-makers

The obesity epidemic has become an issue of major public concern in recent years, with dire predictions of its impact on public health budgets and the long-term health of populations in the developed world. Governments are being urged to act to improve our eating habits and make us more active. Policy proposals range from education campaigns to banning junk food advertising to more extreme measures such as 'fat taxes'. Although the debate has included discussion of public policy solutions to the problem, there has been little input from public policy specialists. This article explores some of the leaps of faith that are currently being made in the obesity debate and suggests that policy-makers need to be cautious about how they respond to calls for action. It is suggested that public policy research may provide some useful frameworks for considering the nature of the problem and assessing possible solutions.