Why do people have the attitudes they do toward social issues such as welfare, abortion, immigration, gay rights, school prayer, and capital punishment? The conventional explanations have to do with their economic circumstances. New research suggests that people with radically different social attitudes also differ in certain automatic fear responses. Subjects who are more fearful are more likely to have right wing views, such as being in favor of capital punishment and higher defense budgets. Automatic fear responses are better predictors of protective attitudes than sex or age (men and older people tend to be more conservative). A mere psychological difference in stimulus response is what, for the most part, decides who will govern and which polcies will enjoy widespread support.