“We're all Keynesians Now”?

Abstract

This article examines mass attitudes toward budget deficits. First, we develop a new measure of budgetary policy preference that is not contaminated by philosophical and symbolic attitudes toward government spending. We then predict public attitudes toward the federal budget from the way partisan intensity interacts with egocentric and sociotropic perceptions of economic well-being. Empirical tests support our predictions that although Republicans are consistently supportive of maintaining budgetary balance, this orientation toward thrift intensifies as perceptions of the national economy worsen. Democrats are more difficult to predict, but they generally appear to demand budgetary restraint when they perceive that the economy is performing well, although tolerating deficits during perceived periods of economic recession—in classic Keynesian fashion. Finally, it appears that Republicans are more driven by pocketbook concerns than Democrats: When times get “tight,” Republicans appear less committed to governmental frugality than when wallets are heavy.