Mass voting for abolitionist parties cannot be explained by mass ideological commitment.

Evidence

What interests us instead is the gap between the figure of 4% indicative of a sturdy ideological movement, and the 46% of the nonsouthern popular presidential vote won by the Republican Party two years after its conception in Wisconsin and birth in Michigan under the pure banner of abolition. The question is: Essentially what part did beliefs in abolition play in attracting the votes of the mass base that made the Republican Party a political success? — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1968

Categorization

• QUESTION: The 4% vs 46% gap is a striking number worth chasing — what exactly did drive the Republican mass vote if not abolitionism?