What Makes People Vote Republican

Ilsa said:
"...republicans like their life to be black and white, yes and no, good and bad. and, like paglia said, they totally cave in to their fear and suspicions. why? how are they so different--in motivations, in morality, in interests, from democrats? ...bridget, seana and john--you're related to a few of them, any insights?"

As for relateds, all I can say is that there ARE one-issue voters.

This is much more, like, deep (and why do I assume Penny knows this guy):

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/haidt08/haidt08_index.html

some key (imo) excerpts:

with pleasure comes seduction, and with righteous pleasure comes seduction wearing a halo. Our diagnosis explains away Republican successes while convincing us and our fellow liberals that we hold the moral high ground. Our diagnosis tells us that we have nothing to learn from other ideologies, and it blinds us to what I think is one of the main reasons that so many Americans voted Republican over the last 30 years: they honestly prefer the Republican vision of a moral order to the one offered by Democrats.

morality is not just about how we treat each other (as most liberals think); it is also about binding groups together, supporting essential institutions, and living in a sanctified and noble way.
When Republicans say that Democrats "just don't get it," this is the "it" to which they refer. Conservative positions on gays, guns, god, and immigration must be understood as means to achieve one kind of morally ordered society.

Republicans have become the party of the sacred, appropriating not just the issues of God, faith, and religion, but also the sacred symbols of the nation such as the Flag and the military. The Democrats, in the process, have become the party of the profane—of secular life and material interests. Democrats often seem to think of voters as consumers; they rely on polls to choose a set of policy positions that will convince 51% of the electorate to buy. Most Democrats don't understand that politics is more like religion than it is like shopping.

Sanctity does not have to come from God; the psychology of this system is about overcoming our lower, grasping, carnal selves in order to live in a way that is higher, nobler, and more spiritual. Many liberals criticize the crassness and ugliness that our unrestrained free-market society has created. There is a long tradition of liberal anti-materialism often linked to a reverence for nature. Environmental and animal welfare issues are easily promoted using the language of harm/care, but such appeals might be more effective when supplemented with hints of purity/sanctity. hell yeah! (uh that was me, not Haidt)

though ps I think maybe he miscasts the Putnam study - I thought he found that though it took diverse groups longer to reach consensus, they came up with better decisions ...