Two studies are described. one of 381 university students and the other a statewide survey of 295 adults, both of which examine the relationship between attitudinal support for censorship and political ideologies. Thc results of these studies are interpreted as challenging the view of Suedfeld, Steel, and Schmidt ( I 994) that support for censorship is a function o f both the works in question and the political ideologies ofthe respondents. In both studies we find that s~ipport for censorship is somewhat consistent across messages and images of differing political content. and that support for censorship is generally greater among those with conservative political attitudes, regardless of the content of the works in question. A model ofpglitical attitudes (Maddox & Lilie. 1986) that conceptualizes American political ideologies as consisting of two relatively independent dimensions, rather than a single left-right dimension. is proposed as a more effective means of conceptualizing this issue. Suedfeld, Steel, and Schmidt (1994) argued that attitudinal support for censorship is found in political liberals as well as conservatives. They suggested that political liberals are likely to support the censorship ofpolitically incorrect (i.e., racist, sexist, and homophobic) messages and violent images, just as political conservatives tend to support the censorship of sexually explicit materials (pornography) or works that offend their religious faith or conservative values. Suedfeld et al. (1994) were responding to Hense and Wright (1992), who introduced the Attitudes Toward Censorship Questionnaire (ATCQ) and found that scores on the ATCQ were correlated with authoritarianism, radicalismconservatism, traditional family ideology, and frequency of church attendance. These findings suggested to Hense and Wright that support for censorship was greater among persons with politically conservative attitudes. Suedfeld et a].

No abstract