Gay Politics Goes Mainstream: Democrats, Republicans and Same‐sex Relationships
研究了美国人对同性关系态度的变化，发现两党支持者的意见分歧早在1980年代中后期就已出现，而非1992年总统选举后扩大，并指出受过大学及以上教育的人群是分歧的潜在引领者。
Attitudes towards same‐sex relationships in the USA have changed radically over a relatively short period of time. After remaining fairly constant for over two decades, opinions became more favourable starting in 1992—a presidential election year in which the Democratic and Republican Parties took opposing stands over the status of gay people in society. What roles did political parties and their leaders play in this process of cultural change? Using a variety of techniques, including machine learning, we show that the partisan opinion gap emerged substantially prior to 1992—in the mid to late 1980s—and did not increase as a result of the political debates in 1992–3. Furthermore, we identify people with a college‐and‐above education as the potential ‘leaders’ of the process of partisan divergence.