Using data from an unusual survey, we gauge factors influencing support for a state anti-gay rights referendum. After controlling for other powerful predictors of attitudes, we find personal contact (especially relevant and voluntary contact) has an important impact on public support, although community context does not. These findings support an integrated notion of interactions with "out" groups, grounded in social categorization theory, that sees community context and interpersonal contact as concentric circles, moving from abstract, detached forms of contact to more pronounced, personal forms. However, even among those with substantial interpersonal contact, support for the referendum was still widespread.

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With whom do parents discuss medical and behavioral child-rearing questions? In a telephone survey of 167 parents (49 fathers and 118 mothers) in the southern United States, the authors found that mothers express a clear preference for their own mother's advice as opposed to that of their motherin-law. Fathers are less likely to consult any relative and show little preference for their own mothers in seeking parenting advice. Directions for further research are discussed.

History has shown that voters tend to support candidates of their own race. This reality has proven particularly challenging for black candidates who have often had difficulty running for office in majority white electorates. However, the vast majority of research on this topic has focused on minority Democrats, not minority Republicans. In this study, we take advantage of a unique set of circumstances in South Carolina's (SC's) 2014 elections where voters had the opportunity to cast ballots for an Indian-American Republican Governor and an African-American Republican Senator. Additionally, the presence of a white Republican Senator seeking reelection provides an important comparison case for determining if there is significant variation in support of these candidates given their different racial profiles, but shared party affiliation. Using unique data from The Winthrop Poll, we find that the determinants of approving of, and voting for, minority Republican candidates, are quite similar to support for the white Republican candidate. It appears that party and ideology are foremost in guiding approval and vote choice decisions among voters in contemporary American politics. Hence, even in SC, support for minority Republicans approximates that given to a white Republican.

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Objective This study evaluates factors that might explain southerners’ opinions toward Confederate monuments. Method We conduct a series of multivariate analyses of opinions toward Confederate monuments based on a poll of 789 respondents who live in the American South. Results The majority of southerners surveyed want to leave Confederate monuments where they are, place a marker next to them for historical context, or place them in a museum. Southerners who express high levels of racial resentment are more likely to want to leave monuments where they are, without additional context. Southern identity has no effect on opinions toward Confederate monuments. Conclusions Southerners are divided in their opinion on symbols of the Confederacy. Racial resentment explains much more of opinions on Confederate monuments than southern identity, suggesting that “hate” rather than “heritage” is the primary driver of opinions on these symbols of the South's Confederate legacy.

Objective. We seek to understand how voters respond to being drawn into a new congressional district: specifically, the new Seventh District of South Carolina created in 2012. Methods. We employ data from a survey of voters in the new district, and employ descriptive statistics and logistic regression models to identify whether voters are aware of the new district, whether they expect better representation as a result, and to explain their likely vote choice. Results. We find limited awareness of the new district among voters, despite a competitive election campaign, but nonetheless a broad public understanding that redistricting may lead to more local influence in Congress. Conclusions. Our results suggest that redistricting efforts that ensure the maintenance of communities of interest to preserve voter-representative links, even if that means deviation from a strict "one person, one vote" standard, may be superior from a representational standpoint.The effects of congressional redistricting on voters can vary dramatically in magnitude. In many cases, in states with fairly stable population trends across the state, we would expect redistricting plans to have few substantive effects on representation. In other cases, either due to political manipulation of the redistricting process or unequal population growth, the effects may be quite profound. However, most existing political science research focuses on the effects of redistricting on the outcomes of elections, particularly in terms of the partisan and racial identity of the candidates who are elected and the effects of redistricting on the incumbency advantage (see, e.g., Overby and Cosgrove, 1996;Desposato and Petrocik, 2003;Grose, 2005;Juenke and Preuhs, 2012). Instead, here we focus on its effects on constituents within the district, a relatively underexplored topic. Specifically, we consider the effects of redistricting on constituents' perceptions of their representation, with particular attention to the question of whether or not individuals are aware of redistricting's effects on them. We find, in general, that voters in the new district were only weakly-if at all-aware of either redistricting or its consequences for local representation, although the district's voters generally seem to believe the redistricting plan in question would help (or at least not harm) their representation in Congress. Finally we consider the consequences of these findings for future redistricting research.

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