Voting in Iowa's 1980 and 1992 ERA Referendums

Jeffrey Ling
Tom W. Rice, University of Iowa

Abstract

Scholars have spent a great deal of time examining the determinants of support for the national ERA. Very little work has been done, however, on the voting patterns in statewide ERA referenda. In this paper we investigate the socio-economic correlates of voting in the 1980 and 1992 Iowa ERA referenda. Using county data, we find that support for the Iowa initiatives is associated with higher social class, weaker religious affiliations, and liberal attitudes. We also find evidence that a significant part of the change in the ERA vote in the Iowa counties between 1980 and 1992 was due to election-specific campaign activity, particularly by anti-ERA activists