The Reality of American Dad’s Caricatured Constituents

In the introduction of Partisan Hearts and Minds, the authors maintain that party affiliation is the strongest indicator of how an individual will vote. This understanding of influential partisanship goes hand-in-hand with Brooks and Manza’s analysis of social cleavages among the US electorate in the second half of the twentieth century. They find that race, gender, religion, and class cleavages have remained relatively constant among voters since the 1960s.

These two arguments seem pretty obvious in our current political climate–people tend to side on issues based on their party identification that tends to correspond with their social realities. For example, African American voters are overwhelmingly affiliated with the Democratic party, and therefore, overwhelmingly vote for Democratic candidates. Thus, perhaps what is more interesting is why Americans are so attached to their respective parties? Green, Palmquist, and Schickler offer that party loyalty may derive from individual’s self-conceptions in relation to party stereotypes. This idea is satirized by the animated sitcom American Dad! Protagonist Stan Smith is loyal Republican who works for the CIA in the greater DC area. He is characterized as hyper-masculine, stubborn, deceitful, insensitive, and drastic in his actions and language. Stan’s daughter Hayley acts as his foil with her liberal beliefs in helping the homeless, using marijuana, feminism, and environmental causes. The following is a clip of their divisiveness on gun ownership:

Stan and Hayley caricature the pervasive stereotypes and social identities Partisan Hearts discusses as explanations for party identification. Stan exemplifies the rich, white male Republican, whereas Hayley sees herself as a feminist advocate. Despite being from the same middle-to-upper class status and protestant religious beliefs, the two are separated by their self-perceptions as well as their gender and age. This separation also supports Brooks and Manza’s findings that social cleavages remain relevant in our current political landscape. Although they represent exaggerated polar opposites of American voters, there is some truth to their dichotomy in both social standing and identity formation.