SOCIAL-GROUPS AND POLITICAL JUDGMENTS

Objective. Much research addresses the influence of issues on politica l judgments, such as individuals' assessments of parties and candidate s. Other, more recent, research suggests that these judgments largely reflect perceptions of social groups in society. We address the relati ve influence of issue attitudes and group evaluations on party and can didate preferences in the United States. Methods. Building on Abramowi tz's (1994) models, we use regression analysis to assess whether and h ow group evaluations influence party identification and presidential c andidate evaluations, relying on data from the National Election Studi es in 1988 and 1992. Results. Issue attitudes do have an important inf luence on individuals' political judgments, but people's evaluations o f groups associated with the political parties also influence their po litical judgments independently of issue attitudes. The politically re levant groups do not merely represent traditional interests, such as l abor and business, or even race-indeed, they primarily represent cultu ral differences. Conclusions. It appears that evaluations of groups an d, thus, judgments of the parties and candidates themselves reflect a broad ideology of intergroup relations.