Part IV

Issue by issue

Each issue has its own partisan gap, its own timing and its own demographic profile.

5 written, 3 planned

This part takes one issue at a time, because each issue has its own timing and its own demographic profile. The abortion sort asks how abortion moved from a cross-cutting issue to a partisan divide, and Perceptions of the economy asks how far partisans' views of the national economy depend on which party holds the White House. The planned chapters put the same kind of question to immigration, guns, health care, trade and taxes, climate, and foreign policy. The Issues explorer sits beside them and lets a reader look up party gaps over time for a wider set of policy questions.

Explorer for this part: Issues. Twenty CES policy questions: party gaps over time, demographic gradients, state and county estimates.

Chapters

4.1
The abortion sort
In the American National Election Studies the gap between Democrats and Republicans in support for always-legal abortion grew from 3.5 points in 1980 to 52.3 in 2024, mostly on the Democratic side, and the General Social Survey shows the same widening.
DraftIndividualsanesgss
4.2
Immigration
In the ANES the gap between Republicans and Democrats in wanting fewer immigrants grew from 3.3 points in 1992 to 28.3 in 2024, and the GSS, the CES and Nationscape show the same divide.
DraftIndividualsanesanes2024gsscesnationscape
4.3
Guns
In the General Social Survey the gap between Republican and Democratic identifiers in household gun ownership grew from 6.8 points in 1973 to 1980 to 27.7 points in 2016 to 2024 (24.7 in person), mostly as ownership fell among Democrats, and the gap in favoring a police permit grew from 4.1 to 29.4 points (23.4 in person and 34.5 on the web), mostly as support fell among Republicans.
DraftIndividualsgssanesanes2024cesnationscape
4.4
Perceptions of the economy
Partisans are more likely to say the national economy got better when their own party holds the White House, by 34.0 percentage points on average in the American National Election Studies from 2012 to 2024, and the two parties swap places at every change of party.
DraftIndividualsanesces
4.5
Health care
In the ANES the gap between Democrats and Republicans on a government health insurance plan was 24.4 points in 1970 and 46.6 points in 2024, and in the ANES and the GSS the Republican share on the government side was lower from 2010 on than before 1993.
DraftIndividualsanesgssces
4.6
Trade and economic populism
Where do the parties' voters stand on trade, taxes and redistribution, and did they switch?
PlannedIndividualsanescesgssnationscape
4.7
Climate and the environment
How large is the partisan gap on climate, and is it unusual among rich democracies?
PlannedIndividualscesessnationscapewvs
4.8
Foreign policy
How have views on defense spending and America's role in the world divided by party?
PlannedIndividualsanesgss