With less than 30 days before the upcoming election, it is nearly impossible to escape the hype of the event. Perhaps you’ve already picked your favorite candidates, but have you ever wondered how other Luther students will vote on Nov. 4? Maybe you’ve even pondered why you are so proud to sport your Obama button while your roommate is irritated by the SNL skits poking fun at Sarah Palin.

An important predictor of voting behavior is whether a person identifies as a liberal, moderate or conservative. Have you ever wondered what causes us to identify with a particular political ideology?

In order to answer this question, we examined results of a survey research project done by the Sociological Research Methods course of a representative sample of 193 Luther students (most of the statistics below come with a margin of error of +/-7%). We found 48% of students considered themselves to be liberal, 30% identified as moderates, and 22% of Luther students considered themselves conservative.

Does Luther mirror the rest of the country? Although Obama supporters would like to think yes, the American public differs significantly. While nearly half of Luther students consider themselves liberal, only 25% of Americans consider themselves liberal. Conservative students only make up 22% at Luther, but nationally 37% of Americans categorize themselves as conservative. So what societal factors “push” a person to label themselves one way or another?

Many have commented on the “gender gap” in politics—with women being more liberal and men more conservative. Does the gender gap exist at Luther? Yes, but it’s not large. 51% of females identified themselves as liberal, while only 44% of men claimed the same identity (not a statistically significant difference considering our small sample size).

One explanation for this gender gap is the gendered nature of political discourse. George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley linguistics professor, explains that political ideologies rely upon the metaphor of a family. Liberals embrace the “nurturing mother” role of government—that it should be supportive and empathic, assisting the underprivileged and encouraging harmonious relations between different countries. Conservatives embrace the “protective father” metaphor, promoting self-sufficiency by reducing government “handouts” and protecting the innocent by being “tough” on criminal and terrorists.

These metaphors are easily identifiable in the current presidential campaign. While the Obama campaign focuses on “hope,” a historically feminine concept, McCain taps into a masculine mantra by using “honor” and “patriotism” to frame his issues.

The size of your hometown has a LOT more influence on your political identity than your gender. Our study found that 62% of students from urban areas claimed to be liberal as compare to only 34% of students from very small towns. This finding matches our earlier finding (Lutherology 2) where students from very small towns were 20 percentage points more likely to believe that homosexuality was immoral as compared to those from bigger towns. Very small communities are known for their support for traditional values (e.g., strong religiosity, patriotism, the traditional family) as compared to more heterogeneous, bigger towns that are more likely to embrace social change as progress.

Does the number of years spent at Luther influence one’s political identity? Well, the results are mixed. One year of our study found juniors and seniors were significantly more likely to be liberal than first-years and sophomores (62% vs. 35%). In our 2006 study, first-years and seniors were most likely to be liberal. We’ll have to explore this link in more depth.

Keep your eye out for upcoming Lutherology articles examining Luther students’ voting behavior and their beliefs on global warming, health care, patriotism and the Iraq War.