The Political World: Voting, Tolerance, and Civility: Data Presentation

Voting in Presidential Elections, 1932-2000

Year	Voting Age Population	Turnout	% Turnout
1932	75,768,000	39,816,522	52.6
1936	80,354,000	45,646,817	56.8
1940	84,728,000	49,646,817	56.8
1944	85,654,000	48,025,684	56.1
1948	95,575,000	48,833,680	51.1
1952	99,929,000	61,551,919	61.6
1956	104,515,000	62,033,908	59.4
1960	109,159,000	68,838,204	63.1
1964	114,090,000	70,644,592	69.3
1968	120,328,186	73,211,875	67.8
1972	140,336,000	77,718,554	63.0
1976	158,373,000	81,555,789	59.2
1980	169,597,000	86,515,221	59.2
1984	174,466,000	92,652,680	59.9
1988	182,778,000	91,594,693	57.4
1992	189,529,000	104,405,155	61.3
1996	196,511,000	96,456,345	54.2
2000	205,815,000	105,586,274	54.7
Source: Census data cited in Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. Retrieved April 2, 2002 from http://wwww.gspm.org/csae/cgans12.html; U.S. Census Bureau. Current Population Reports. Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000, February 2002, p. 12.

Party Identification of Voters, 1952 to 2000

Year	% of Voters Identifying as
	Democrats	Republicans	Independents	Apolitical
1952	57	34	6	3
1954	56	33	7	4
1956	50	37	9	4
1958	56	33	7	4
1960	52	36	10	2
1962	54	35	8	4
1964	61	30	8	1

[Continued]

Party Identification of Voters, 1952 to 2000 [Continued]

Year	% of Voters Identifying as
	Democrats	Republicans	Independents	Apolitical
1966	55	32	12	1
1968	55	33	11	1
1970	54	32	13	1
1972	52	34	13	1
1974	52	31	15	3
1976	52	33	15	1
1978	54	30	14	3
1980	52	33	13	2
1982	55	32	11	2
1984	48	39	11	2
1986	51	36	12	2
1988	47	41	11	2
1990	52	36	10	2
1992	50	38	12	1
1994	47	41	11	1
1996	52	38	9	1
1998	51	37	11	2
2000	50	37	12	1
Source: The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior. Retrieved April 4, 2002 online from http://www.umich.edu.

Voters' Party Affiliation by Sex

Data include those who "lean" toward one of the parties shown.
Year	Percent of Females and Males Identifying As
	Democrats		Republicans		Independents
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
1952	56	58	35	33	5	7
1954	53	60	35	31	7	8
1956	47	54	40	35	8	10
1958	55	57	33	33	7	7
1960	50	53	36	36	9	10
1962	51	57	37	32	7	9
1964	61	61	30	30	7	8
1966	55	54	31	33	12	12
1968	57	53	31	35	11	10
1970	54	54	32	32	13	13
1972	54	49	33	35	12	15
1974	53	50	29	33	14	16
1976	52	50	33	33	13	17
1978	55	53	30	30	12	16
1980	55	49	32	34	11	15

[Continued]

Voters' Party Affiliation by Sex [Continued]

Year	Percent of Females and Males Identifying As
	Democrats		Republicans		Independents
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
1982	59	51	29	35	10	13
1984	50	46	38	42	11	12
1986	53	48	34	39	11	12
1988	50	43	38	45	10	11
1990	53	50	33	40	11	9
1992	54	45	34	42	11	12
1994	53	41	36	48	10	11
1996	58	45	32	45	9	9
1998	53	49	34	40	11	10
2000	53	46	34	41	12	12
Source: The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior. Retrieved online April, 4, 2002 from http://www.www.umich.edu.

Registration and Voting in Presidential Elections by Women and Men, 1968 to 2000

Year	% Registered		% Voting
	Women	Men	Women	Men
1968	72.8	76.0	66.0	69.8
1972	71.6	73.1	62.0	64.1
1976	66.4	67.1	58.8	59.6
1980	67.1	66.6	59.4	59.1
1984	69.3	67.3	60.8	59.0
1988	67.8	65.2	58.3	56.4
1992	69.3	66.9	62.3	60.2
1996	67.3	64.4	55.5	52.8
2000	65.6	62.2	56.2	53.1
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Reported Voting and Registration by Race, Hispanic Origin, Sex and Age Groups. Retrieved online from http://www.census.gov.

Eligible Population Voting -By Age Group -1964 to 2000

Year	Percent of Those Eligible Voting
	Those Aged:				Total Voting
	18 to 24	25 to 44	45 to 64	65 and Older
1964	50.9	69.0	75.9	66.3	69.3
1968	50.4	66.6	74.9	65.8	67.8
1972	49.6	62.7	70.8	63.5	63.0
1976	42.2	58.7	68.7	62.2	59.2

[Continued]

Eligible Population Voting -By Age Group -1964 to 2000 [Continued]

Year	Percent of Those Eligible Voting
	Those Aged:				Total Voting
	18 to 24	25 to 44	45 to 64	65 and Older
1980	39.9	58.7	69.3	65.1	59.2
1984	40.8	58.4	69.8	67.7	59.9
1988	36.2	54.0	67.9	68.8	57.4
1992	42.8	58.3	70.0	70.1	61.3
1996	32.4	49.2	64.4	67.0	54.2
2000	32.3	49.8	64.1	67.6	54.7
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000, February 2002, p.12.

Percent of Those Eligible Voting -By Race/Ethnicity -1964 to 2000

Hispanics may be of any race and are included under whites and blacks as well.
Year	Whites	Blacks	Hispanics
1964	70.7	58.5	-
1968	69.1	57.6	-
1972	64.5	52.1	37.5
1976	60.9	48.7	31.8
1980	60.9	50.5	29.9
1984	61.4	55.8	32.6
1988	59.1	51.5	28.8
1992	63.6	54.0	28.9
1996	56.0	50.6	26.7
2000	56.4	53.5	27.5
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Current Population Reports. Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000, February 2002, p. 12.

How the Races Voted -1980 to 2000

Data for Asians not available for 1980, 1984, and 1988.
	Percent Voting for Parties:
	Whites	Blacks	Hispanics	Asians
1980
Republican	56	11	33	-
Democrat	36	85	59	-
Independent	7	3	6	-

[Continued]

How the Races Voted -1980 to 2000 [Continued]

	Percent Voting for Parties:
	Whites	Blacks	Hispanics	Asians
1984
Republican	64	9	37	-
Democrat	38	90	62	-
1988
Republican	59	12	30	-
Democrat	40	86	69	-
1992
Republican	39	83	61	31
Democrat	40	10	25	55
Independent	20	7	14	15
1996
Republican	46	12	21	48
Democrat	43	84	72	43
Independent	9	4	6	8
2000
Republican	54	8	31	41
Democrat	42	90	67	54
Independent	3	1	2	4
Source: Connelley, Marjorie. Who Voted: A Portrait of American Politics, 1976-2000. New York Times, November 12, 2000, p. 4. Data for 2000 were collected by Voter News Service based on questionnaires completed by 13,279 voters leaving 300 polling places on Election Day. 1996 data came from a survey of 16,627 voters. 1992 came from a survey of 15,490 voters. Data from 1980 -1988 came from the New York Times and CBS News: 11,645 in 1998, 9,174 in 1984, 15,201 in 1980.

Presidential Election Voting by Religious Affiliation

	Percent Voting for Party:
	White Protestant	Catholic	Jewish
1976
Republican	58	44	34
Democrat	41	54	64
1980
Republican	63	50	39
Democrat	31	42	45
Independent	6	7	15
1984
Republican	72	54	31
Democrat	27	45	67
1988
Republican	66	52	35
Democrat	33	47	64
Republican	47	35	11
1992

[Continued]

Presidential Election Voting by Religious Affiliation [Continued]

	Percent Voting for Party:
	White Protestant	Catholic	Jewish
Democrat	33	44	80
Independent	21	20	9
1996
Republican	53	37	16
Democrat	36	53	78
Independent	10	9	3
2000
Republican	63	47	19
Democrat	34	49	79
Independent	2	2	1
Source: Connelley, Marjorie. Who Voted: A Portrait of American Politics, 1976-2000. New York Times, November 12, 2000, p. 4. Data for 2000 were collected by Voter News Service based on questionnaires completed by 13,279 voters leaving 300 polling places on Election Day. 1996 data came from a survey of 16,627 voters. 1992 came from a survey of 15,490 voters. Data from 1980 1988 came from the New York Times and CBS News: 11,645 in 1998, 9,174 in 1984, 15,201 in 1980.

Top Reasons for Not Voting in 2000

Reason Given	Percent
Bad weather	0.6
Transportation problems	2.4
Inconvenient	2.4
Forgot	4.0
Registration problems	6.9
Refused, don't know	7.5
Didn't like candidates	7.7
Out of town	10.2
Not interested	12.2
Illness or emergency	14.8
Too busy	20.9
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2000," February 2002, p. 10.

How People Classify Themselves on the Political Spectrum

Year	Percent of Those Who Describe Themselves as:							Summary
	Moderate, Middle of the Road	Conservative	Slightly Conservative	Slightly Liberal	Liberal	Extremely Conservative	Extremely Liberal	All Conservatives	All Liberals	Moderates	No Opinion
1972	27	10	15	10	7	1	1	26	18	27	29
1974	26	12	12	8	11	2	2	26	21	26	27
1976	25	11	12	8	7	2	1	25	16	25	34
1978	27	11	14	10	8	2	2	27	20	27	26
1980	20	13	13	9	6	2	2	28	17	20	35
1982	22	12	13	8	6	2	1	27	15	22	36
1984	23	13	14	9	7	2	2	29	18	23	30
1986	28	13	15	11	9	2	1	30	21	28	21
1988	22	14	15	9	6	3	2	32	17	22	29
1990	24	10	14	8	7	2	1	26	16	24	34
1992	23	13	15	10	8	3	2	31	20	23	26
1994	26	19	14	7	6	3	1	36	14	26	24
1996	24	15	15	10	7	3	1	33	18	24	25
1998	28	13	15	9	7	2	2	30	18	28	24
2000	23	15	12	9	9	3	2	30	20	23	27
Source: The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior. Retrieved April 4, 2002 online from http://www.umich.edu.

How We See Men and Women -Opinion Poll

	% Describing Trait as:
	More True of Women	More True of Men
Emotional	90	3
Affectionate	86	5
Talkative	78	10
Creative	65	15
Patient	72	19
Intelligent	36	21
Ambitious	33	44
Easygoing	38	45
Courageous	27	50
Aggressive	20	68
Source: Americans See Women as Emotional and Affectionate, Men as More Aggressive. Retrieved online April 17, 2002 from: http://www.gallup.com.

Fortune 500 Firms Offering Domestic Partner Benefits to Employees

Year	Number Offering Benefits
1993	7
1994	13
1995	15
1996	19
1997	34
1998	60
1999	77
2000	99
2001	116
Source: Unmarried, with Benefits. U.S. News & World Report, February 26, 2001, p. 10; Domestic Partner Benefits Doubled From 1997. Research Alert, February 26, 2001, p. 8.

Gays in the Military: Discharges and Harrassment Complaints

Year	Discharges	Harrassment Complaints
1994	617	62
1995	772	127
1996	870	132
1997	1,007	182
1998	1,163	400
1999	1,046	968
2000	1,231	871
2001	1,250	1,075
Source: Stone, Andrea. "Military Discharges of Gays, Rising, Report Says." USA Today, March 14, 2002, p. 10A. Gays and the Military Timeline. Retrieved online April 24, 2002 from http://www.glimm.com; Army Base Acknowledges Under-Reporting Gay Discharges. Retrieved online from http://www.sldn.org.