ABSTRACT
The classical definition of party identification is that it is a "sense of personal attachment which the individual feels towards the party of his choice". One of the more important features of party identification is that it not only helps to shape choices directly by capturing a long-term loyalty or standing decision to support a given party, it also shapes choices indirectly by helping make sense of information people receive. Party identifications also provide short cuts that reduce the amount of information voters need to process. Party identification is also useful at the level of the system as well as individual voters. One of the major distinctions to be made is whether partisanship is either a consequence of socialization or simply a matter of habituation. The earliest work on party identification, that of the 1960s and 1970s, emphasized childhood socialization and that children "acquired" the party loyalties of their parents.
