The Similarity of Husbands' and Wives' Political Views

Abstract

Even in these days of the women's liberation movement, the assumption of marital homogeneity of political values is rarely challenged. Wives may be more involved in politics than ever before, and there are a few outstanding examples of families in which the wife is clearly politically dominant. Even so, the assumption is retained that husbands and wives rarely differ politically (Miller, 1970). Yet, in fact, there is very little direct evidence to support or deny couple homogeneity at the mass level.' What evidence does exist consists of questionable inferences from aggregate data showing few sex differences in political attitudes and of data showing that husbands and wives typically support the same political party. Our first task, then, is to provide some evidence of the scope and depth of spouse agreement about political affairs. More than this, however, we also want to delve into the more difficult

Bringing Strong Ties Back in Interpersonal Gateways to Political Information and Influence

“…, spouses (Niemi, Hedges, and Jennings 1977), male friends (Laumann 1973), neighbors (Weatherford 1982), and political discussion partners who were not relatives (Huckfeldt andSprague 1987, 1988). This study complements the prior research by extending the focus to include both kin and other core discussion partners and by examining the frequency of political discussions as well as the choice of discussants.…”

Is Voting Contagious? Evidence from Two Field Experiments

“…Niemi, Hedges, and Jennings (1977) find that spouses have very similar political profiles (but see Zuckerman and Kolter-Berkowitz 1998 for evidence that politically apathetic households are heterogeneous in preferences). That said, the extent to which cohabitants are similar on average varies across topics, and scholars have attempted to correctly categorize these attitudes and behaviors.…”

Interpersonal and mass media communication: Political learning in New Hampshire's first‐in‐the‐nation presidential primary

“…Most people consciously seek out discussion partners where they can obtain political information that reinforces their own preferences (Hucksfeld and Sprague 1987;Chaffe 1982). Also, there is a tendency for political homogeneity to concentrate within the family, especially among spouses (Berelson, Lazarsfeld, and McPhee 1954;Niemi, Hedges, and Jennings 1977). As any given voter's discussion network extends outward to include Note.…”

“…But the research agenda initiated by the Columbia studies has not generated much research until recently. During the past several years there has been a resurgence of research on personal intermediaries (Beck 1991;Straits 1991;Sprague 1987, 1988) and political discussion networks Qennings 1983;Weatherford 1982;Niemi, Hedges, and Jennings 1977). Researchers have also begun to pay more attention to the role of the news media in the intermediation process (Ranney 1983;Chaffe 1982;Patterson and McClure1976).…”