ABSTRACT
An assertion commonly made about the nature and structure of attitudes towards politics and political institutions is that individuals are largely uninformed, attitudes largely unconstrained. In the context of American public opinion, the line of research examining attitude constraint goes back more than 40 years, its canonical root being Converse’s classic 1964 study, ‘The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics’.1 With respect to the American public, Converse found only a small percentage of individuals who could ‘constrain’ – tie together – issues ideologically. Converse cast further doubt on the ability of individuals to hold meaningfully coherent opinions with the publication of his famous ‘black and white’ model.2 In this, Converse essentially argued individuals offered not much more than random guesses as to their issue positions. In looking at panel data, Converse found little evidence for attitudinal stability. He treated this as indicative of the absence of meaningful opinions among all but the most highly educated.
