Factors Related to Misperceiving Party Stands on Issues

An attempt to answer 2 questions: (1) Does misperception or pol'al issues vary with the type of issue involved? & (2) What factors are related to misperceiving party stands on issues? A Likert-type questionnaire was given to R's drawn from 4 pop's: (a) 83 freshman & sophmores from a large Midwestern HSch, (b) 123 freshmen & sophmores from a large Midwestern U, (c) 77 juniors & seniors from a large Midwestern Sch district. Pol'al issues were divided into 2 types: style issues (broad abstract goals representing values with which almost everyone agrees & which tend to unite groups rather than divide them) & position issues (concrete issues on which there is disagreement). 3 style issues & 3 position issues were used in the analysis. Results indicate that misperception of pol'al issues does vary with the type of issue involved. For each of 4 groups, mean/average misperception scores on style issues are higher than mean/average misperception scores on position issues. For both style & position issues, misperception decreases as educ increases. Strength of party identification is positively related to misperception of style issues & negatively related to misperception of position issues. Strength of issue-orientation is also positively related to misperception of style issues & negatively related to misperception of position issues. AA.