The Effect of Education on Ideological Consistency

Abstract

Using data from the 1964, 1968, and 1972 American national election studies, this report raises serious questions about the validity of the “salience-of-politics” hypothesis that has been invoked to account for the dramatic growth of mass ideological consistency since the late 1950s. A reconceptualization of the consistency construct along liberal-conservative lines and a more refined analysis of the effect of education suggests that the rising level of educational attainment in the mass public may be the major factor explaining long-term trends in the structure of American political ideology.