Washington, Dec 29 (IANS) Did you know that genetics plays a vital role in shaping your political orientation?

Political party identification (PID) is among the most studied concepts in modern political science. Scholars have long held that PID was the result of socialisation factors, including parental socialisation.

The possibility that partisan identification could be transmitted genetically rather than socially was not considered and largely left untested.

Using quantitative genetic models, Peter K. Hatemi, assistant professor in political science at the University of Iowa (U-I) and colleagues 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, said an Iowa varsity release.

These findings were published recently in the Political Research Quarterly, the journal of the Western Political Science Association.