Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T04:49:57.205Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Spouse in the House: What Explains the Marriage Gap in Canada?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2005

J. Matthew Wilson  and
Michael Lusztig
J. Matthew Wilson
Affiliation:
Southern Methodist University
Michael Lusztig
Affiliation:
Southern Methodist University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. A literature has emerged in American voting studies noting a “marriage gap”—the propensity for married voters to support the Republican party. Using Canadian Election Study data, we establish the existence of a significant marriage gap in Canada. We also seek to determine if the marriage gap is driven by socio-demographic factors or attitudinal ones. We find that while socio-demographic factors contribute to the marriage gap, they explain relatively little variance. In probing the attitudinal basis of the marriage gap further, we find that married Canadians differ from the unwed very strongly on issues of moral traditionalism, but much less so on other issues that measure generalized conservatism.

Résumé. Des travaux sont apparus dans les études américaines sur le vote remarquant l'existence d'un “écart mariage” (marriage gap) – la tendance des électeurs mariés à soutenir le parti républicain. Utilisant des données sur les élections nationales canadiennes, nous établissons l'existence d'un écart significatif au Canada. Nous cherchons aussi à déterminer si ce phénomène est poussé par les facteurs socio-démographiques ou les facteurs d'attitude. Nous constatons que bien que les facteurs socio-démographiques contribuent à cet écart, ils n'expliquent que relativement peu de variation. En recherchant davantage la base attitudinale, nous constatons que les canadiens mariés diffèrent très fortement de ceux qui ne sont pas mariés sur les questions de traditionalisme moral, mais cependant beaucoup moins sur les questions de conservatisme géneral.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 979 - 995
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abzug, Bella, and Mim Kelber. 1984. Gender Gap. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Angus Reid Group. 1996. God and Society in North America. Toronto: Angus Reid Group.
Archer, Keith, and Faron Ellis. 1994. “Opinion Structure of Party Activists: The Reform Party of Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 27: 277–308.Google Scholar
Carty, R. Kenneth, William Cross, and Lisa Young. 2002. “A New Canadian Party System.” In Political Parties, Representation, and Electoral Democracy in Canada, ed. William Cross. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Chaney, Carole Kennedy, R. Michael Alvarez, and Jonathan Nagler. 1998. “Explaining the Gender Gap in U.S. Presidential Elections, 1980–1992.” Political Research Quarterly 51: 311–339.Google Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., and Allan Kornberg. 1992. “Support for the Canadian Federal Progressive Conservative Party since 1988: The Impact of Economic Evaluations and Economic Issues.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 25: 29–53.Google Scholar
Conover, Pamela Johnston. 1988. “Feminists and the Gender Gap.” Journal of Politics 50: 985–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corelli, Rae. 1996. “How are Canadians Different From Americans?” Maclean's, November 4.
Erickson, Lynda, and Brenda O'Neill. 2002. “The Gender Gap and the Changing Woman Voter in Canada.” International Political Science Review 23: 373–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flanagan, Tom. 1995. Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and Preston Manning. Toronto: Stoddard.
Gerson, Kathleen. 1987. “Emerging Social Divisions Among Women: Implications for Welfare State Politics.” Politics and Society 15: 213–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gidengil, Elisabeth, André Blais, Richard Nadeau, and Neil Nevitte. 2002. “Women to the Left? Gender Differences in Political Beliefs and Policy Preferences.” In Women and Electoral Representation in Canada, eds. Manon Tremblay and Linda Trimble. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Herman, Didi. 1994. “The Christian Right and the Politics of Morality in Canada.” Parliamentary Affairs 47: 268–279.Google Scholar
Hoover, Dennis R., Michael D. Martinez, Samuel H. Reimer, and Kenneth D. Wald. 2002. “Evangelism Meets the Continental Divide: Moral and Economic Conservatism in the United States and Canada.” Political Research Quarterly 55: 351–374.Google Scholar
Kingston, Paul William, and Steven E. Finkel. 1987. “Is There a Marriage Gap in Politics?” Journal of Marriage and the Family 49: 57–64.Google Scholar
Laycock, David. 1994. “Reforming Canadian Democracy? Institutions and Ideology in the Reform Party Project.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 27: 213–247.Google Scholar
Laycock, David. 2002. The New Right and Democracy in Canada: Understanding Reform and the Canadian Alliance. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Lusztig, Michael. 1994. “Constitutional Paralysis: Why Canadian Constitutional Initiatives Are Doomed to Fail.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 27: 747–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lusztig, Michael, and J. Matthew Wilson. 2005. “A New Right? Moral Issues and Partisan Change in Canada.” Social Science Quarterly 86: 109–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, Carol. 1991. “The Gender Gap and Women's Political Influence.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 515: 23–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nevitte, Neil, André Blais, Henry Brady, Elisabeth Gidengil, and Richard Johnston. 1998. “The Populist Right in Canada: The Rise of the Reform Party in Canada.” In The Politics of the Right: Neo-Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies, eds. Hans-Georg Betz and Stefan Immerfall. New York: St. Martin's.
Nevitte, Neil, André Blais, Elisabeth Gidengil, and Richard Nadeau. 2000. Unsteady State: The 1997 Federal Election (Don Mills: Oxford University Press).
O'Neill, Brenda. 2001. “Gender Gaps in Public Opinion in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 34: 275–298CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plissner, Eric. 1983. “The Marriage Gap.” Public Opinion (February-March): 53.
Plutzer, Eric, and Michael McBurnett. 1991. “Family Life and American Politics: The Marriage Gap Reconsidered.” Public Opinion Quarterly 55: 113–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, Sam. 1995. “A Look at Cultural Effects on Religiosity: A Comparison Between the United States and Canada.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34: 445–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, Herbert F. 1987. “The Demographics of a New Voting Gap: Marital Differences in American Voting.” Public Opinion Quarterly 51: 335–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar