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An examination of the constraints between traditional lines of political polarization (Left-Right placement) & newer distinctions (materialist/postmaterialist values) among mass publics. Analysis of Dutch national survey data covering 1976-1981 shows that voting or party preference is most clearly related to the Left-Right placement of respondents (Ns not specified). However, this placement is directly & strongly dependent on materialist/postmaterialist orientation, while background variables (eg, education, income, & age) are linked to voting via this value orientation. The materialist/postmaterialist orientation appears to be the present-day interpretation of the dominant political conflict in advanced industrial society. Although alignments & orientations count for a substantive part of the variance in voting, the power of these models to predict the actual vote of people turns out to be rather poor. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 23 References. HA