Moral Conservatism and Voting

Abstract

This chapter studies the effects of moral and practical considerations on political sentiments. Both have important effects but here, the moral trumps the practical. The voters’ practical considerations are indicated by their feelings about the economy and the problems of their state of residence, and their moral considerations by their moral conservatism. This chapter asks: How do moral factors affect the linkages in the graphical models of practical voting presented in Chap. 4? Moral conservatism reduces the effects of a state’s blue-purple-red political classification and the voters’ warm economic feelings. It also directly influences the endogenous political variables (operational political ideology and party affiliation) that influence practical voting. The final graphical models depict the joint effects of moral conservatism and a state’s human developmental context as these directly and indirectly influence voting decisions. The total effects of state-level typological variables based on human development and income equality are much weaker than the total effects of such individual-level variables as moral conservatism, the endogenous political variables, and the exogenous social attributes. These findings suggest a disconnection between the needs of the states for improved health, education, and economic wellbeing and the national electoral process; moral politics worsens this disconnection.