Party Identification And Political Behavior Of The American Voter

Party identification is a psychological identification with the party. It has long been observed that people are stable in their partisan choices between elections. This article discussed the relationship between party identification, electoral choices, political involvement and political attitudes based on the American National Election Studies’2012Time Series Study. According to the funnel of causality in deciding electoral choices, we have classified potential explanations of the vote into one of the six general themes:1) stable social and economic characteristics,2) long-term ideology,3) long-term party identifications,4) preferences and predispositions concerning current policy issues,5) perceptions of current conditions, national of personal,6) retrospective evaluations of the current President concerning government results. This article focused mainly on the development of party identification and the impact of party identification on political preferences, attitudes and vote. The comprehensive analysis concluding all six stages of the causal order is shown in the multi-variable linear regression model.The results strongly suggest that party identification serves as a crucial mediating force and a source of cues for individuals as they interpret politics and make electoral choices. People’s party Identification is significantly correlated with their political attitudes, political involvement and voting behavior. Besides,"independent leaner" often acts more similar to those identifiers rather than the "pure independent".