Issue Evolution: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Goal & Concept

Goal

The goal of this exercise is to examine the process of issue evolution by comparing partisan boundaries across several issues. Crosstabulation and correlation coefficients will be used.

Concept

Issue evolution refers to the process by which issues are introduced to the political realm and eventually become defined along partisan lines. The theory suggests that when a new issue enters the political realm, party elites takes sides, and ultimately, define the issue along partisan lines. Members of the general public observe the behavior of the party elites and choose their position accordingly based on partisan identification. It is believed that the process unfolds slowly and gradually. If this is true, issues that have been in the political arena for a long time should have very clear partisan lines while issues that have been around for a shorter period of time should have boundaries that are less clearly defined.

The issues to be examined in this exercise concern privatization of social security, the death penalty, same sex relationship rights, and stem cell research. Social security and the death penalty have been important issues in politics for several years now. It is likely that most citizens have picked up on cues given by party elites over the years; therefore, it is also likely that citizens' attitudes on these issues are defined along partisan lines. The issues of same sex relationship rights and stem cell research are relatively new in American politics. Party elites have had less time to send cues, and members of the public have had less time to receive these cues. Therefore, it is expected that the partisan boundaries on these issues are not as clear as partisan boundaries on older issues.

A correlation is a measure of the strength of association between two variables. Correlations are expressed on a scale from -1.0 to +1.0. Correlation coefficients closer to zero indicate a weak relationship between variables, while correlations close to positive or negative one indicate a strong relationship. A positive correlation means that as values of one variable increase, values of the second variable increase as well (or, conversely, as values of one variable decrease, values of the second variable decrease). A negative correlation indicates that as values of one variable increase, values of the second variable decrease.

Examples of possible research questions about issue evolution include:

• Which political issues have 'evolved' in America? Which political issues are still in the process of "evolving?"
• Why do some political issues 'evolve' faster than others?
• How do voters learn about party elites' positions on these political issues?
• Do citizens ever diverge on the political issues before party elites?

Goal & Concept - Dataset - Application - Interpretation & Summary - Bibliography