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Pauline, the Mainstream, and Political Elites: the place of race in Australian political ideology Jackman, Simon Uploaded 08-25-1997 Keywords public opinion political ideology political elites race immigration Australian politics factor analysis ideological locations density estimation plotting highest density regions Abstract An often heard claim in the current ``race debate'' is that Australia's major political parties are out of touch with ``mainstream'' Australia on issues related to race. Parallel surveys of the electorate and candidates in the 1996 Federal election allow this claim to be tested, with items tapping general ideological dispositions, but including questions about Aboriginal Australians, immigration, and links with Asia. I make three critical findings: egin{itemize} item the electorate holds quite conservative opinions on these issues relative to the candidates, and is quite distant from ALP candidates in particular; item attitudes on racial issues are a powerful component of the electorate's otherwise relatively loosely organized political ideology, so much so that any categorisation of Australian political ideology ignoring race must be considered incomplete; item racial attitudes cut across other components of the electorate's ideology, placing all the parties under internal ideological strains, but the ALP appears particularly vulnerable on this score. end{itemize} While the data show the Coalition to be the net beneficiary of the ideological tensions posed by race, the formation of Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has exposed the Coalition's vulnerability to race as a cross-cutting political issue. Racial issues thus have many characteristics of a realigning dimension in Australian politics.