Political commentators routinely treat rural America as an undifferentiated bastion of strength for Republicans. In fact, rural America is a deceptively simple term describing a remarkably diverse collection of places encompassing nearly 75 percent of the U.S. land area and 50 million people. Voting trends in this vast area are far from…

Religious group size, demographic composition, and the dynamics thereof are of interest in many areas of social science including migration, social cohesion, parties and voting, and violent conflict. Existing estimates however are of varying and perhaps poor quality because many countries do not collect official data on religious identity. We…

A new analysis of party identification, based on more than 10,000 interviews of registered voters conducted by Pew Research Center in 2017, finds that 37% of registered voters identify as independents, 33% are Democrats, and 26% are Republicans. For decades, women have been more likely than men to identify as Democrats or lean Democratic. But…

Despite recent and growing interest in using Twitter to examine human behavior and attitudes, there is still significant room for growth regarding the ability to leverage Twitter data for social science research. In particular, gleaning demographic information about Twitter users--a key component of much social science research--remains a…

The Millennial generation is forging a distinctive path into adulthood. Now ranging in age from 18 to 331, they are relatively unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of people, in no rush to marry--and optimistic about the future. They are also America's most racially diverse…

Although American schools are required to meet civic education goals of preparing students to become active and informed citizens, high-quality civic opportunities (e.g. service learning and volunteering) are consistently less available to youth of color who are typically enrolled in schools located in high-poverty communities. The purpose of this…

In this article, Amy N. Farley, Matthew N. Gaertner, and Michele S. Moses examine the use of ballot initiatives as a particularly attractive form of direct democracy for opponents of affirmative action in higher education. Building on previous scholarship, the authors question whether anti-affirmative ballot initiatives validly reflect voters'…

The decline in voting participation in American presidential elections since 1960 is also characteristic of both congressional off-year and gubernatorial elections. But the rate of decline varies greatly among the various states. Demographic variables explain only a few of these differences. Some possible explanations are presented. (Author/RM)

Social scientists in the United States have been reluctant to use ideological/demographic research to explain and predict voting behavior because of criticism from survey researchers that such an approach provides interpretations only of aggregate data, cannot establish a direct causal link between independent characteristics and voting behavior,…

A study explored the contribution of selected literacy, demographic, and sociopolitical variables on registering to vote and on voting, using as a database a subset of the respondents to the Young Adult Literacy Survey, administered in 1985 to a stratified national sample of 21- through 25-year-olds. Three sets of independent variables were…

Describes the construction and results of a predictive model that could help identify what factors seemed to influence voter choices on a school voucher constitutional amendment in California. Precinct voting outcome data from the County of Los Angeles were linked to voter demographics along with measures of local school quality and existing…

Data from the Latino National Political Survey indicate that naturalized Latinos were less likely than native-born Latinos to participate in politics; the negative influence of naturalization was less than the positive influence on participation of increasing levels of education and age. Participation in schools was higher among Mexican American…

Identified voter attitudes directly affecting voter behavior in fiscal elections, including attitudes about community involvement in policy-making, school community relations, school discipline and the teaching of democracy, present level of spending, and present level of taxes. Perceptions of school quality and social conditions have little…

This report presents demographic data on California's Latino population. Data sources include census reports from 1980 and 1990; the 1990 Annual Demographic File; the 1990 and 1988 Voter Supplements; and the 1988 Fertility, Birth Expectation, and Immigration Study. The report includes the following information: (1) general demographic statistics…

The special report presents a statistical portrait of the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of American children and youth. Children are considered to be persons under 14 years of age, and youth are seen to be between the ages of 14 and 24. Data in the report analyze trends among children and youth in the areas of population growth…