Can’t buy me love? An experiment on the relationship between federal grant spending and public approval of federal agencies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research finds that grant spending can improve the standing of politicians and institutions with some in the public. It is unclear whether this effect holds for federal agencies as well, which are largely responsible for allocating these funds. We develop a theory that links agency grant spending to the likelihood of an individual supporting the awarding federal agency, with the expectation that this relationship is conditioned by the citizen’s partisan identification. Using a survey experiment, we find that an increase in federal grant spending, from agencies that they politically oppose, is associated with Republicans offering a more negative evaluation.