How Do Different Beliefs, Ethics, and Values Contribute to Different Political Views?

How do different beliefs, ethics, and values contribute to different political views?

Political differences and political polarization has been a prevalent and complicated issue in the United States with many contributing factors such as education, age, religious beliefs, economic strata, and cultural/ethnic backgrounds. While education and age contribute to different political beliefs; religious beliefs, economic strata, and cultural/ethnic backgrounds are the strongest contributors to different political views with ethnic backgrounds being the most important contributor.

While religious beliefs, economic strata, and cultural/ethnic backgrounds are the most important contributors to different political views, there are other contributing factors such as education and age. In terms of education, as supported by the education and political identity relationship article by the Pew Research Center, those with higher education tend to have more liberal political views, while those with lower education vote conservative. Education has been a factor that has polarized political ideals and beliefs through the agenda of high-level educators, resulting in the political divide we see. The Pew Research article supported this claim with statistics such as 54% of adults with postgraduate degrees have consistent liberal views, further proving that education is a contributing factor and that those with higher education tend to have more liberal political views. Along with education, age is an important factor that also influences political beliefs. The younger population has majority liberal views while the older population has conservative views as supported by the same Pew Research article. Approximately 64% of the boomer generation (57-75 years old) have consistent conservative attitudes, supporting the claim that the older population has conservative views. Additionally, 66% of millennials (26-41 years old) have consistent liberal views, also supporting the claim that the younger population has majority liberal views. These pieces of evidence solidify that education and age are also significant factors contributing to political polarization.

While education and age are important factors, both religious and economic beliefs are stronger contributors to different political beliefs. In terms of religious beliefs, the University of California’s media source on how religious and economic morals affect political views perfectly explained how different religious backgrounds contribute to different political views. An example was how those with a Jewish background tend to vote Liberal, while those with a Catholic background tend to be Conservative. Additionally, religious groups that focus on humanitarian aid and equality tended to be liberal while religious groups with a focus on authority and loyalty tend to vote Conservative. Along with religious factors, economic factors are also strong contributors to different political beliefs as supported by the Harvard Kennedy School’s article on the relationship between ethnicity and political beliefs as well as the economic and political identity relationship article by the Pew Research Center. These articles support the claim that those who believe income is distributed unequally and should be spread throughout the population tend to be liberal, while those who believe that those who control an economic majority should keep their wealth, tend to be conservative. The Pew Research article stated that of the 36% of the public who agreed corporations deserve the profit they make, 82% were conservative solidifying the claim that those who believe that those who control an economic majority should keep it, tend to be conservative. Additionally, both articles supported the claim that those who believe that income is distributed unequally and should be spread throughout the population tend to be liberal as supported by the statistic that of the 65% of the public who agreed that the economic interests in the US unfairly favor the big businesses and the wealth should be equally distributed, 99% were liberals. These pieces of evidence solidify that both religious and economic beliefs are significant factors contributing to political polarization and they support the argument that the issue of political polarization can be combatted through being religiously and economically diverse, helping us understand that everyone has individual differences, thus combatting the political divide.

While education, age, religious/economic beliefs are all important factors; ethnic/cultural background are the most important contributors to different political beliefs. As supported by Perry Bacon Jr.’s Washington Post article on racial and economic agenda influencing politics, the BIPOC community is a perfect example of how ethnicity strongly contributes to political beliefs. The BIPOC community has supported liberal politics in recent years, however, as stated in the article, the community has moved toward a position of resentment towards the Democratic party because of an issue affecting the community: white appeasement in politics. This situation exemplifies why cultural and ethnic backgrounds are the strongest contributors to political views as those who identify in a certain ethnic group, tend to vote in that group's best interest. Additionally, as supported by the Harvard Kennedy School’s article on the relationship of ethnicity and political beliefs, there is a deep political divide between different ethnic and racial groups such as the Caucasian and African American communities. For example, in 2008, 78% of African Americans supported President Obama, while only 31% of whites. This statistic alone shows the cultural contribution to political views, and how significant it is. Furthermore, it displays how cultural and ethnic ideals are the most important contributors to different political beliefs. Lastly, as hinted in the evidence, the issue of political polarization can be combatted through diversity as the statistics show how our non-diverse society has a strong political divide, thus supporting why it is so important to be culturally and ethnically diverse. 

Political differences and political polarization have many contributing factors such as education, age, religious beliefs, economic strata, and cultural/ethnic backgrounds which is important because these are all contributing factors, but some of these factors are more important than the others. Cultural/ethnic backgrounds are the most important contributors to political views because cultural groups support specific political ideologies together making them the strongest contributor as shown by multiple statistics and articles. Lastly, as supported by many statistics and research, the issue of political polarization can be combated by having a diverse and balanced combination of economic, religious, and cultural beliefs.