Rush to Action: Political Talk Radio and Health Care (un)Reform

Abstract

The role of talk radio as a determinant of public opinion has garnered considerable journalistic attention but has received little scientific scrutiny. Relying on data from the 1993-1995 American National Election Studies, this article tests the hypothesis that exposure to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh produced antipathy toward national health insurance. I perform a content analysis of Limbaugh to determine the extent to which Limbaugh attempted to move policy preferences on this issue. I then employ a series of multivariate analyses of attitudes in 1993 and 1995 to determine the nature and magnitude of the ''Limbaugh effect." I conclude that listening to Limbaugh does predict conservative health attitudes in a nontrivial way, independent of ideology, party identification, or listener warmth toward Limbaugh. However, the degree of warmth listeners feel toward Limbaugh does not interact with listening to produce stronger conservatism.