The Understanding of Ideological Labels by Political Elites: A Research Note

Abstract

T he missing piece of our puzzle [of democratic politics], wrote Key, this elite element of the opinion system (1961: 536). Key's comment thirty years ago dealt with the state of public opinion research pertaining to the political elite in American society. While scholars at the time were learning quite a bit about the opinions of the mass public, one could not say the same for our understanding of the thin stratum of persons referred to variously as the political elite, the political activists, the leadership echelons, or the influential (Key 1961: 536). Knowledge of the opinions of the political elite is essential because understanding their views of politics helps answer the fundamental question of how it is that democratic governments manage to operate (ibid., 536). Since Key offered his original insight, we have learned a good deal about the attitudes of elites and their behavior (e.g., McClosky et al. 1960; McClosky 1964; Putnam 1976; Miller and Jennings 1986). But gaps remain. We, for instance, know remarkably little about how elites grasp a central element of our traditional political discourse--understanding of the ideological terms liberal and conservative. While efforts have been made to examine the mass public's familiarity with and understandings of ideological terms (Campbell et al. 1960; McClosky et al. 1960; Converse 1964; McClosky, 1964; Miller and Levitin 1976; Conover and Feldman 1981; Knight 1984, 1990; Luttbeg and Gant 1984; Sanders 1986; Green 1988), the same is not true with