James E. Piereson

An Alternative Conceptualization of Political Tolerance: Illusory Increases 1950s–1970s

This article proposes an alternative conceptualization of political tolerance, a new measurement strategy consistent with that conceptualization, and some new findings based upon this measurement strategy. Briefly put, we argue that tolerance presumes a political objection to a group or to an idea, and if such an objection does not arise, neither does the problem of tolerance. Working from this understanding, we argue that previous efforts to measure tolerance have failed because they have asked respondents about groups preselected by the investigators. Those groups selected as points of reference in measuring tolerance have generally been of a leftist persuasion. Our measurement strategy allowed respondents themselves to select a political group to which they were strongly opposed. They were then asked a series of questions testing the extent to which they were prepared to extend procedural claims to these self-selected targets. Using this approach, we found little change between the 1950s and the 1970s in levels of tolerance in the United States, a result that contradicts much recent research on the problem.

The Sources of Political Tolerance: A Multivariate Analysis

Over the past 25 years a number of conclusions concerning the development of political tolerance have come to be well accepted in the literature on political behavior. There are, however, two persisting problems with the studies that have generated these findings: they have relied on a content-biased measure of tolerance, and have failed to examine well specified models of the factors leading to tolerance. In this article we report the results of an analysis of the determinants of political tolerance using a content-controlled measure of tolerance and a more fully specified multivariate model. The parameters of the model are estimated from a national sample of the U.S. The results indicate the explanatory power of two political variables, the level of perceived threat and the commitment to general norms, and psychological sources of political tolerance. Social and demographic factors are found to have no direct effect and little indirect influence on the development of political tolerance.

Presidential Popularity and Midterm Voting at Different Electoral Levels

This paper examines the relationship between evaluations of presidential performance and voter decisions at different electoral levels. Drawing upon survey data from the 1970 midterm elections, we found that evaluations of Mr. Nixon had little impact upon the voting decisions of those who identified with one or the other of the major parties. However, among independent voters, the relationship was quite strong. Independents who entertained favorable images of Mr. Nixon were much more likely to vote for Republican candidates than were those who were generally unfavorable toward the president. In addition, this relationship was found at all electoral levels. Thus, the impact of presidential popularity upon midterm elections is not restricted to contests for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, but also extends to state races for governor, as well as to contests for lower level state and local offices. Some consequences of these findings are then considered.

Issue Publics and Voter Choice

Political scientists have assumed that dividing the electorate into issue publics, on the basis of salient issues, leads to a better understanding of the relationships between issues and both candidate evaluations and electoral choice. This portrait accords nicely with the description offered by pluralists of the operation of the electoral arena. Our data suggest that, at least in 1972, the portrait is flawed. Using a variety of multivariate tech niques we show that salience fails to sharpen the impact of issues and that electoral choice was, fundamentally, a question of candidate images.