LIFE AND DEATH AS PUBLIC POLICY: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND ABORTION IN AMERICAN POLITICAL OPINION

Recent decisions of the US Supreme Court, in returning to theissues of capital punishment and abortion, have simultaneouslyexpanded the potential for public opinion on these issues tohave an impact on public policy. This article considers thedistribution of the available combinations of attitudes towardissues of the institutionalized taking (or preservation) ofhuman life, both in the general American public and in subgroupswhich combine these opinions in distinctive fashion. These patternsare then compared to attitudes among partisan political activists,suggesting a further set of recurring, élite-mass tensions.Finally, the resulting tensions and cross-pressures are examinedfor their relationship to the presidential vote in 1984 and1980.