Exploring the Association between Political Identity and Antisemitism

Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/91851951402

Sophie Gilbert

Sophie Gilbert is a current sophomore as Wesleyan University pursuing majors in Government and Film and a minor in French Studies as well. Sophie is from the Bay Area in Northern California, but now calls Northern New Jersey home.

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Abstract: This study examines the relationship between political identity (both party-affiliation and placement on the ideological spectrum) and Antisemitic beliefs using the 1990 General Social Survey (GSS).This means that the study will investigate whether the political association of the participants has any associative relationship with beliefs that are known as Antisemitic dog-whistles. The survey included 1372 respondents. Political identity was measured with the question “Do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what?” Possible responses ranged from 1 (Democratic-leaning) to 3 (Republican-leaning). Political ideology was measured with the question “Do you think of self as liberal or conservative?” Each of these questions had 9 categories of responses that were aggregated into 3 groups of possible responses: 1 (liberal-identifying) to 3 (conservative-identifying) and 1 (Democrat) to 3 (Republican). Jewish influence was measured with the question “Do Jews have too much influence?” Possible responses ranged from 1 (possessing too much influence) to 3 (possessing too little influence). Thoughts on Jews and patriotism was measured with the question Do people in this group (Jews) tend to be patriotic or do they tend to be unpatriotic?” Possible responses ranged from 1 (an affirmative association of patriotism) to 3 (a negative association of patriotism).Thoughts on Jews and wealth was measured with the question “Do you believe people in this groups (Jews) are rich or poor?” Possible responses ranged from 1 (higher amount of wealth associated) to 3 (lack of wealth associated). There is no immediate statistically significant relationship between neither Party Affiliation nor Political Ideology and the levels of the response variables that demonstrate Antisemitic beliefs. After controlling for Age, most of the relationships remain statistically insignificant except in a couple of rare cases involving those who identify as “Independent.”