DIFFERENT CONTENTS, SIMILAR PACKAGES - THE DOMESTIC POLITICAL BELIEFSOF SOUTHERN LOCAL PARTY ACTIVISTS

This research note investigates the content, structure, and correlates of the political beliefs of Democratic and Republican local party act ivists in eleven Southern states. Confirmatory factor analyses reveal that the beliefs of both groups are structured by three factors concer ning government involvement in economy and society, traditional values , and women's rights and roles. Regarding the content of belief, Repub licans take substantially more conservative positions on several (not all) of the issues organized by the three factors and, unlike Democrat s, there is little subgroup diversity in their beliefs concerning gove rnment involvement and traditional values issues. The political belief s of Democrats, but not Republicans, also vary geographically, with De ep South Democrats being significantly more conservative than those in border states.