Partisanship: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Goal & Concept

Goal

The goal of this module is to explore basic differences in partisanship by demographic characteristics, including age, race, income, and gender. Crosstabulation and graphs will be used.

Concept

Partisanship is generally defined as an individual's inclination to favor one political party over another. Political scientists do not consider formal enrollment in a political party a necessary part of partisanship. Instead, if a citizen merely feels closer to one party or the other, he or she is considered to be a partisan. Partisanship is often related to an individual's beliefs and attitudes. Knowing someone's partisan identity gives researchers insight into their attitudes toward political issues and preferences for candidates.

Examples of possible research questions about political partisanship:

• As people age is their partisanship likely to change?
• Are there differences in partisanship by gender?
• Does partisanship differ between racial groups?
• What is the relationship between income and partisanship?
• How are partisanship and voter turnout linked?

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