Are traditional differences between the Republican Party and Democratic Party disappearing? Position statements indicate that the two parties are becoming more similar in their intention to reduce the role of the federal government in social policies and programs, cut spending on welfare and other social support programs, and scale back remedial action for racial inequality. At the same time, each party has expressed an intention to become a more inclusive party, willing to accommodate divergent interests and viewpoints. Official party platforms and the stated positions of party officials may not represent the views of rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans. Table 4.3 can be used to determine whether those who describe themselves as Republicans have different demographic characteristics and different views about social issues than those who describe themselves as Democrats.

Table 4.3 Demographic Characteristics and Position on Social Issues by Political Party

Perceived Social Class			Ethnic Minorities Should Adapt to U.S. Culture.
Democrats	Republicans	Democrats	Republicans
Lower	38	20	Strongly Agree	85	96
Working	282	213	Agree	278	270
Middle	298	267	Neither Agree nor Disagree	126	83
Upper	17	28	Disagree	114	68
Strongly Disagree	33	8
Years of Education		Getting Ahead in Life is a Product of:
Democrats	Republicans	Democrats	Republicans
1	0	1	Hard Work	142	112
2	4	4	Hard Work & Luck/Help	52	44
3	2	0	Luck/Help	27	20
4	1	2	Political Views
5	4	1	Democrats	Republicans
6	9	2	Extremely Liberal	18	5
7	4	1	Liberal	52	10
8	14	7	Slightly Liberal	52	5
9	12	7	Moderate	131	79
10	20	17	Slightly Conservative	36	61
11	42	23	Conservative	24	79
12	182	145	Extremely Conservative	4	15
13	60	54	How Often R Attends Religious Services?
14	85	74	Democrats	Republicans
15	40	33	Never	117	59
16	75	91		50	34
17	20	19	Once per Year	99	78
18	37	31	Several Times a Year	90	76
19	13	6	Once per Month	52	31
20	15	10	2-3Xs per Month	61	47
Highest Degree			Nearly Every Week	42	28
Democrats	Republicans	Every Week	94	115
	99	55	>Once per Week	32	60
H.S./ GED	340	282	Views on Extra-Marital Sex
	44	46	Democrats	Republicans
Bachelor	93	103	Always Wrong	168	148
Graduate	63	42	Almost Always Wrong	32	17
Sometimes Wrong	12	7
Not Wrong	4	3
Source: General Social Survey, 2002

Use the median and the mean to compare the educational attainment of Democrats and Republicans. Are your results different from those when you used the mode to compare the two groups? Make sure that you show how to calculate and remember to interpret each value.