Political Attitudes in Venezuela: Societal Cleavages and Political Opinion

Enrique A. Baloyra · John D. Martz

Jun 2014 · University of Texas Press

About this ebook

Here is a benchmark study of voter attitudes in a Latin American country. This volume is based on extensive survey research conducted during the Venezuelan elections of 1973. The methods employed by Baloyra and Martz to poll an "unpollable" society successfully challenge previously established paradigms.

The authors interviewed a representative sample of over 1,500 voters to determine relationships between class, status, community, context, religion, ideology, and partisanship on the one hand and political attitudes and preferences on the other. They found that the Venezuelan electorate is defined by a series of contradictory tendencies, and they place their conclusions in the context of contemporary political science literature regarding class and party, ideology and party, and inequality and participation.

About the author

Enrique A. Baloyra (1942–1997) was Associate Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Miami. John D. Martz (1934–1998) was Professor of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University.