Political Reader

Many things come into account when discussing a persons political opinions. From level of education, to income, to gender, all factors of life make each of our political opinions unique.

• Level of Education - A higher level of education enables you to have a more accurate idea of your political beliefs. A lesser level of education would result in a person being less educated or informed on current world events and only influenced by what is going on in their immediate community. Our school influences tilts my values to a liberal standpoint as we learn the importance of accepting others no matter their race, gender, or identity. We learn to value freedom and respecting other's opinions, which are liberal traits. However, a typical traditional school may influence students into a more conservative standpoint as they have less freedom and more order.  
• Family Income affects political standpoint as the amount of money you have plays a large role in your political values. Higher income families probably lean more towards the conservative side, not willing to give away larger percentages of their income. Lower income families may stand at a more liberal standpoint, believing all walks of life should receive an equal chance in achieving their American Dream. 
• Region of U.S. has affected political views since slavery. Southerners had so many crops to grow that they needed others to help, therefore they owned slaves. To this day, Northerners still do not understand the need for help in harvesting crops as they made their money by working in factories. Due to these past matters, Southerners may tend to have more sympathy for immigrants, while Northerns do not understand the need to let in people fleeing their countries, as most Canadians are not trying to escape their country into the Northern part of the U.S.  
• Racial Group standings affect how we rank the importance of equality, freedom and order. Native U.S. citizens may be more conservative, valuing order and freedom over equality whereas immigrants may be more liberal or libertarian, valuing freedom and equality over order. White people may also believe that government should not provide jobs, probably because the majority of white people are employed. On the chart on 152, the white race was the only racial group that replied no to the question if government should provide jobs. 
• Religion plays a strong role in whether we value equality or order. More strict religious probably lean on the conservative side while less strict religions are more liberal. However, many people are not religious, therefore their political views through this category are not affected much or at all. 
• Sex is the category in which least affects our political standpoints because at this day and age, men and women are given more equal opportunity than they have in the past. I think the political views between a man and women are more similar than the political views between a white and black person. Members of the LGBTQ society most definitely have more liberal politic view, believing that identity should not effect opportunity. 

In America, people grow up in a variety of different environments and each category listed above plays a strong role in our political values how we believe the government should stand. Different views often mean a person has different values and political preferences. Often times, our political views take after our parents and people living in the same community tend to have similar views as well. Advertisements, candidates, and current events are other factors that may affect our political standpoint. Although it is important to understand our political values, they do not define us.