ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes partisan assessments in order to determine whether what on the surface appears to be a de facto conservative shift runs deeper and represents true ideological change. Improved assessments of the Republican party have had important consequences for American politics. For a de facto conservative shift to take place, two conditions must be satisfied. First, assessments of the conservative party must improve. And second, these conservative gains must not be rooted in a growing affinity with the party's ideology. In the late 1960s, Americans did make more favorable assessments of the Republicans, and some of these assessments were grounded in the fear of rising crime. The apparent contradiction of improved economically driven assessments of both parties may in fact be the product of a close association between economic ideology and economic competence. Many Americans embraced the economic goals of the Democratic party, along with its conception of a more active government and a more vigorous social welfare policy.
