Christopher Lohse, a psychiatric researcher at southern connecticut state university, has completed a study wherein he examined the political preferences of psychotic and emotionally disturbed patients.
His conclusion is that there is a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.
From the New Haven Advocate:
-Lohse’s study is no joke. The thesis drew on a survey of psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.
The study was an advocacy project of sorts, originally designed to register mentally ill voters and encourage them to go to the polls, Lohse explains. The Bush trend was revealed later on.
The study used Modified General Assessment Functioning, or MGAF, a 100-point scale that measures the functioning of disabled patients. A second scale, developed by Rakfeldt, was also used. Knowledge of current issues, government and politics were assessed on a 12-item scale devised by the study authors.
“Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry,” the study says.
Lohse says the trend isn’t unique to Bush: A 1977 study by Frumkin & Ibrahim found mentally ill patients preferred Nixon over McGovern in the 1972 election.-
-moby