The attitude that one has to their job, schoolwork, chores, etc. have to be formed somehow. Likewise, so does a political attitude. There are four key influences on one's political attitude:

1. Role of the family--Most young people identify with their parents political party. The majority of high school seniors, for example, know the presidential preference of their parents and share that preference. As we age, obviously we become more independent of our parents, but there remains a great deal of continuity between the partisanship learned from one's parents and adult partisanship. The family's ability to embedd a strong sense of party identification has declined in recent years. However, it has occured in all age levels, so it is not just affecting the young. The meaning of the identification we obtain from our parents is unclear because there are liberal and conservative Democrats as well as liberal and conservative Republicans. Also, issues change from one generation to the next, and children react differently than there parents would have. In families where politics is heavily discussed, the children tend to have clear ideologies.

2. Religion--Catholic families are generally more liberal on economic issues than white Protestant ones, while Jewish families are more liberal on both economic and social issues than both of them. Two theories have been suggested as to why there are these differences. The first is social status. In the past, Catholics and Jews were the objects of discrimination and, therefore, often affiliated themselves with whichever party seemed most sympathetic to their needs. This used to be the Democratic party, but as some of this discrimination has decreased they have moved away from the Democratic party. The second idea is found in the content of religious tradition. The Jewish faith emphasizes social justice as much as personal rectitude where as evangelical Protestants emphasize personal salvation more than social policy. This has lead Jews to be more liberal and Protestants to be more conservative.

3. Gender gap--This is the difference in political views between men and women. They tend to differ on social questions, like prohibition and gun control, and foreign policy, especially war. The gender gap tends to disappear during year when issues such as war, gun control, or pornography are not key issues, and reemerge when they are foremost on the agenda. One as yet unanswered question is whether female voters tend to vote for female candidates more than male voters.

4. Schooling and Information--College tend to "make" people more liberal. Also, people who obtain postgraduate degrees tend to me more liberal than people who obtain a BS, for example. There are a few theories as to why college has this affect. First, it has nothing to do with schooling; the individual traits typically possessed by people who attend college consist of some combination of tempermament, intelligence and family background that predestine them to become liberal. Second, college and postgraduate schooling expose people to more info about politics from all sources. College grads, in comparison with high school grads, read more periodicals, join more social organizations and participate in other political oriented activities. Third, college "teaches" liberalism. Professors tend to be more liberal than people of other occupations, and this is, in turn, reflected in their influence on their students. How long the liberalizing effect of college lasts depends on the person and the influences around them. For example, if one has liberal friends after college, he is more likely to remain liberal.