Political party affiliation may lie in your genes

WASHINGTON - Genes may play a vital role in determining which political party do individuals identify with, say experts.

Political party identification (PID) is among the most studied concepts in modern political science.

It has long been believed that PID was the result of socialization factors, including parental socialization.

While writing in Political Research Quarterly, the official journal of the Western Political Science Association (published by SAGE), authors said the possibility that partisan identification could be transmitted genetically rather than socially was not considered and largely left untested.

With the help of quantitative genetic models, authors Peter K. Hatemi, John R. Alford, John R. Hibbing, Nicholas G. Martin, and Lindon J. Eaves examined the sources of party identification and the intensity of that identification.

Together with recent examinations of political attitudes and vote choice, their findings begin to provide a more complete picture of the source of partisanship and the complex nature of the political phenotype. (ANI)