Major Life Events and the Age-Partisan Stability Association

• Published in: Political behavior Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 791 - 814
• Main Author: Hobbs, William R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Science + Business Media 01-09-2019; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age; Elections; Identification; Life events; Life transitions; National elections; ORIGINAL PAPER; Partisanship; Party identification; Political identity; Political parties; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Residential mobility; Retirement; Socialization; Sociology; Stability; Voter registration; Voters; Socialization; Partisanship; Life events
• ISSN: 0190-9320; 1573-6687
• DOI: 10.1007/s11109-018-9472-6

Stable partisanship in the United States is often attributed to attachments to political parties that become slowly and incrementally stronger with age. Here, I show that switches in partisan identification can happen quickly after major life transitions even in old age and that this pattern of party-switching can explain a surprisingly large fraction of the age-partisan stability association. Using voter registration information over 8 years for more than 20 million voters in California, in combination with American National Election Studies panel surveys, I measure how many individuals switch party affiliation when they move to new homes, switch when separating from a partner, and become less likely to switch after retirement. In both ANES and voter record analyses, accounting for residential mobility alone reduces the association between age and party-switching by 50% or more. The combined findings demonstrate that socially crystallized lives help drive steady partisanship in adulthood and suggest that continuity in day-to-day life could maintain partisan identity at 30 years old almost as much as it does at 60.