Well Said: Understanding the political divide

Well Said

In 2009, political science professor Jonathan Weiler and global studies associate professor Marc Hetherington released their research on the relationship between four questions and the political divide. Those relationships continue to have implications in the current political climate today. Weiler and Hetherington became interested in the acrimonious nature of politics as they watched the unfolding of the 2000 presidential election. They agreed that the political divide was intensifying, and as they investigated further, they discovered what might be a correlation between our intrinsic values and our passion for politics. “At some point, we stumbled on these four parenting questions,” Weiler said. “Those four parenting questions don’t really tell you anything about how people feel about taxes, but they tell you a lot about how people feel about race, gay rights, gender, family structure [or] immigration.” On this episode of Well Said, Weiler and Hetherington discuss the findings from their initial study, as well as their new book, "Prius or Pickup?"