| In this dissertation I explore whether the meaning of ideological labels vary across states. This examination addresses whether structures of ideological attitudes vary by state and whether they are different from structures of partisan attitudes, and whether candidates shape messages to comply with state-level meanings of ideological labels.;American National Election Study cross-sections conducted in the 70s, 80s and 90s are used to analyze whether variation existed at the regional and state levels. OLS regression is used to determine the effects that attitudes about individual political stimuli had on attitudes about ideologies and parties. Factor analysis is used to determine how these attitudes about individual political stimuli formed latent attitudinal dimensions. A content analysis is conducted on messages disseminated by candidates in the 2000 American presidential election that targeted the nation, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.;The analysis finds that regional and state variation exists in how ideological attitudes were structured. These structures of ideological attitudes are different than structures of partisan attitudes. The content analysis indicates that candidates' messages vary somewhat by state. Messages had mixed appeals, with candidates sometimes representing their ideologies, parties, both their ideologies and parties, and neither. However, because of methodological concerns, the results of the content analysis are inconclusive and further testing should be conducted before any credence is given to those findings. |
