Salient Issue Research Articles

Media Salience Shifts and the Public’s Perceptions About Reality: How Fluctuations in News Media Attention Influence the Strength of Citizens’ Sociotropic Beliefs

ABSTRACT This article examines whether shifts in news media attention to societal issues matter for how strong beliefs citizens have about those issues. Based on an issue signal approach, in which media salience is conceptualized as signal strength, the study analyzes whether sociotropic beliefs become more prevalent, extreme, and certain when news media salience rises, and less prevalent, extreme, and certain when media salience drops. Using a four-wave panel survey dataset collected over a two-year period, the empirical analysis links media content analyses of issue salience to panel survey data, comparing four issues with different levels of baseline salience and political controversy: violent crimes, immigration, climate change, and antibiotic resistance. The analysis shows that issue-specific news media exposure and issue-specific use of alternative media offer two different pathways to the formation of beliefs. The hypothesized relationship with news media salience was supported for the two controversial issues with high baseline salience (immigration and violent crimes), but not for climate change and antibiotic resistance. The results indicate that issue attributes matter and that audiences may respond differently to salience shifts depending on the level of controversy of the issue.

Police Interactions With the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community: Abuse, Audism, and Accessibility

Police brutality is a salient issue in recent years, especially in the United States. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), as well as disabled people, experience higher rates of police violence than white and nondisabled individuals, and it is important to recognize and scrutinize this pattern of injustice. This project investigated police interactions with members of the D/deaf and Hard of Hearing (Deaf/HH) community, and analyzed the intersection of race and disability in the context of policing. Four Deaf/HH individuals were surveyed, and twenty anecdotal accounts from social media were analyzed. Research findings indicate that the Deaf/HH community faces unique challenges when interacting with police. These include difficulties communicating hearing status, misinterpretation of Deaf/HH communication methods, the formulation of strategies for safely navigating police encounters, the intersection of race and disability, and accessibility concerns. The consequences of these issues can be dire, often deadly, and thus potential solutions are discussed to help mitigate future harm.

Persuadable voters decided the 2022 midterm: Abortion rights and issues-based frameworks for studying election outcomes.

Leading up to the 2022 Congressional midterm elections, all predictions pointed to a Republican wave, given factors such as the incumbent president's low approval rate and a struggling national economy. Accordingly, the underwhelming performance of the Republican Party surprised many, resulting in an election that became known as the "asterisk election" due to its unusual and seemingly unpredictable outcome. This study delves into the specifics of the 2022 midterms, exploring factors that may have influenced the results beyond those traditionally considered by political scientists. Our analysis particularly seeks to understand whether a sudden shift in the public salience of specific issues could have influenced voters' preferences, leading them to consider factors they might not have otherwise. To achieve this, we analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of registered voters surveyed immediately after the midterm elections. Our findings reveal that the issue of abortion played a pivotal role during this election. The prominence of abortion was not predestined, as evidenced by a comparative analysis with data from a survey conducted after the 2020 presidential election. Indeed, it seems that the decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022 significantly increased the salience of abortion. This unexpected policy shock had a significant impact on the behavior of voters in the 2022 midterm elections.

The impact of public discourse on local representatives’ amalgamation preferences

ABSTRACT Municipal amalgamation reforms have taken place across democratic regimes since the 1960s. While much focus has been devoted to such reforms’ causes and effects, less attention has been on public discourse surrounding territorial consolidation. This study analyses how local issue salience may impact local representatives’ stance on amalgamating their municipality with one or more others. We focus on the 2014–2020 Norwegian Local Government Reform and utilise a broad survey of local representatives. The analyses show that no one issue (local democracy, local belonging, local employment, municipal services and municipal finances) was perceived to have dominated more than others during the reform. And though certain issues, once prominent in local debates, affect the propensity of local representatives to support amalgamation, this relationship tends to differ between the largest and smallest municipalities, and is also conditioned on localisation issues in the (potentially) new municipality.

International Solidarity at the Grassroots: A Case Study of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement

The global campaign against apartheid South Africa has been viewed as one of the most successful examples of international solidarity activism in the 20th century. Scholars examining how anti-apartheid emerged and developed as a salient global issue have primarily focused on transnational and national considerations, particularly the role and influence of southern African exiles and expatriates, as well as the way that anti-apartheid intersected with national domestic political concerns. There has, however, been limited attention paid to the distinctly local dimensions of the international anti-apartheid movement. Using the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) as a case study, this article seeks to add to our understanding of how the politics of anti-apartheid at the grassroots level was shaped by its interactions with the local economic, political, social and cultural environment. The existing historiography on anti-apartheid in Britain has been characterised by an overwhelming focus on the London-based national AAM and a widespread perception that the movement was highly centralised. Through an exploration of the role of local activist structures, the issue of grassroots autonomy, and examples of anti-apartheid activism beyond London, the article asserts that while there was an element of centralisation linked to the national AAM, this point has been overemphasised. In adopting a grassroots analytical approach, this article will reveal the distinctive local dimensions of anti-apartheid activism in Britain and demonstrate that there was greater diversity than the existing scholarship acknowledges. It is argued that such heterogeneity within the movement was shaped by the levels of grassroots autonomy that existed, as well as the influence of divergent local conditions. Finally, a focus on local anti-apartheid activism can provide greater nuance to established historiographical narratives of the national AAM, such as tensions with the far left and engagement with domestic anti-racist struggles.

Issue Salience and Women's Electoral Performance: Theory and Evidence from Google Trends

Issue Salience and Women's Electoral Performance: Theory and Evidence from Google Trends

Does ESG privilege climate action over social and governance issues? A content analysis of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s annual letters

Milton Friedman famously argued that the social responsibility of business is to maximize shareholder wealth. Friedman’s view is challenged by the proponents of corporate social responsibility who suggest that firms should consider the interests of all stakeholders, and not just shareholders. Following the stakeholder approach, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has made the case that firms should use the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) metric to evaluate their performance as opposed to short-term profit maximization. Fink employs his annual “Dear CEO” letters as a platform to outline his views on ESG. While these letters focus on all three ESG dimensions, the media tends to portray Fink as a climate advocate. We examined the texts of the ten letters Fink has published since 2012 to assess the extent to which Fink focused on climate issues. We found that Fink emphasized the climate dimension over social and governance dimensions only in two letters (2020 and 2022), which suggests that the thrust of Fink’s letters differs from how the media frames them. Broadly, our paper suggests that norm advocates sometimes cannot fully control how their advocated norm is interpreted and framed. Limiting ESG to climate issues has implications for its business acceptability. Specifically, this framing links business incentives to adopt ESG to the policy salience of climate issues as well as the fortunes of both the fossil fuel industry and the renewable energy sector. Second, if businesses face a legitimacy crisis from governance shortfalls or inadequate social performance, ESG will serve as a less effective tool in alleviating stakeholder concerns.

Justifying opposition and support to EU‐Africa cooperation on deportation in West Africa

AbstractMigration, in general, is not a salient political issue in West Africa. However, one migration aspect that remains highly controversial and unpopular is cooperation on the deportation of undocumented emigrants with the EU and its member states. In this paper, we set out a typology of justification frames for studying how political actors in West Africa might frame their support or opposition to cooperation on deportation. We distinguished three types of justifications: identity‐related, moral, and utilitarian. While the moral (human rights) and utilitarian (political, economic, securitarian, labor) frames are rather classic justifications in migration politics and governance, our analysis shows that identity‐related (‘neo‐colonial resistance’ and ‘neo‐colonial compliance’) justification frames highlight how historical path dependencies matter in understanding the drivers of (migration) politics and governance in West Africa. This is particularly evident when the images of cuffed and shackled deportees from Europe evoke memories of dark historical pasts.

‘Party position, electoral incentives, and attention to European Union issues in the 2019 European Parliament election’

Under what conditions do Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) give attention to EU issues in European Parliament (EP) election campaigns? This study examines how party positioning on European integration and individual electoral incentives affected MEPs’ attention to EU issues in the 2019 EP election campaign. Based on data collected from Twitter, the findings show that pro-EU parties and individual vote-seeking incentives increased attention to EU issues. More specifically, they show that MEPs from pro-EU mainstream parties had incentives to debate about EU issues, especially when they competed for votes. The findings help to unfold the interplay between party-level and legislator-level factors and its effects on attention to EU issues and aim to contribute to research on EU issue salience and EP election campaigns.

The impact of occupational background on issue representation

Descriptive representation matters for substantive representation. Yet, one key legislator characteristic has received comparatively little attention in research on substantive representation: the occupational background of members of parliament. In this article, it is argued that occupational background shapes patterns of representation since the choice of occupation both indicates certain interests while also generating expertise in issues related to the job. In order to assess this proposition, there is an analysis of whether local councillors’ occupations affect their issue emphasis in the local council and to what extent this effect is moderated by parties’ issue saliences. Empirically, the study focuses on local councillors’ issue emphasis using data on 1,269 local councillors in Germany between 2011 and 2020. The results have important implications for understanding local councillors’ descriptive and substantive representation as they show that occupation matters: councillors emphasise issues related to their occupation more often than other representatives.

Social-psychological factors influencing risk perceptions of chronic wasting disease on social media

ABSTRACT Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion-based disease that poses an imminent threat to New York State (NYS), but many NYS hunters do not perceive it as a salient issue or follow recommended practices to prevent its spread to NYS. This study sought to identify the social-psychological factors underlying the efficacy of social media interventions to increase risk perceptions of CWD in NYS. We conducted an online survey experiment with 2760 NYS hunters and found that perceived similarity of an information source on social media and hunters’ biospheric values and descriptive norms increased risk perceptions of the threat of CWD to deer and deer hunting in NYS. We also found that biospheric values and knowledge increased risk perceptions of behaviors contributing to the spread of CWD to NYS. We encourage regulators to collaborate with opinion leaders in the hunting community to disseminate CWD prevention messages on social media to maximize message efficacy.

Policy sequencing can increase public support for ambitious climate policy

Abstract Public support for ambitious climate policies and carbon prices that have direct costs for voters may depend on policy sequencing. Policy sequencing theory suggests that the strategic ordering of policies into sequences that initially create benefits can subsequently increase support for higher carbon prices. However, systematic quantitative evidence about the effects of sequencing on public support is lacking. We provide novel theoretical and empirical insights on the mechanisms through which strategic policy sequencing affects public support for climate policies. We generated these insights using geospatial data and a representative conjoint experiment with Swiss voters conducted just before the popular vote on an amendment to the Federal Act on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in June 2021. Our evidence shows that the perceived effectiveness of prior policy-induced benefits is related to more public support for higher carbon prices across sectors. Moreover, we find that more opportunity structures for low-emission alternatives—like higher EV charging station density—are associated with increased public support for carbon prices in the sector where the former material benefits occur. Our results also imply that positive policy perceptions of prior climate policies are related to increased support, particularly among conservative voters and those who do not regard climate change as a salient issue. Thus, strategic policy sequencing could be an effective strategy for broadening public support for ambitious climate policies.

Advocating, Unlearning, Tearing It All Down? How BIPOC Young Adults with Mental Health Concerns Perceive and Engage with the Media

ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 pandemic has increased the salience of issues related to social justice, mental health, and health equity. During this time, the media have been instrumental in amplifying social movements but also in spreading mis/disinformation, violence, and hatred. Among communities who have been affected heavily during this time are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) young adults who have a mental illness/significant mental health concerns. As frequent engagers and creators of media, their perspectives are critical to informing what aspects of the media should be leveraged to promote the health, well-being, and safety of people who have been marginalized. Thus, our study asks: How do BIPOC young adults (in the United States) who have a behavioral health diagnosis or significant mental health concerns perceive the media? Guided by intersectionality and grounded theory, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 participants. The results reveal participants’ 1) deep recognition of how the media uphold oppressive structures and 2) identification of ways that people have used and can use the media to fight those same structures. Researchers and media leaders should listen to, center the experiences of, collaborate with, and follow the lead of people who have been marginalized. This is critical to transforming the media such that they promote the well-being of all people.

Birleşme Sonrası Almanya’da İdealist Avrupa Yanlılığı ile İç İdeolojik Öncelikler Arasında Alman Sosyal Demokrat Partisi

The main thrust of this article is to examine the evolution of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD)’s Europhile position since German reunification from a broader ideological perspective. To this end, this study rests on the field research that entails 16 semi-structured interviews with high-profile SPD political elites and archival research on key official party documents. Based on this analysis, the main argument of this study is that the SPD encountered a growing tension between idealistic and domestic views of European integration since 1990. Under the impact of the post-reunification domestic problems and Chancellor Schröder’s assertive European policy line, the German Social Democrats’ ideology-driven doubts about European integration increased at the expense of their idealistic pro-Europeanism. Over time, this tension led to the greater prominence of ideological pragmatism in the SPD’s official European Union (EU) narrative, rendering Europe a politically and ideologically salient issue for the party.

Who Cares? Issue Salience as a Key Explanation for Heterogeneity in Citizens’ Approaches to Political Trust

Who Cares? Issue Salience as a Key Explanation for Heterogeneity in Citizens’ Approaches to Political Trust

Dynamics of Campaign, Press, and Public Discourse in Electoral Politics

ABSTRACT Utilizing agenda-building theory, we explore how campaigns and parties influenced press and public agendas during Florida’s 2018 midterm election. We investigate if the Gubernatorial and Senate campaigns transferred issue salience and affective attributes to press coverage and online public discourse. Results of a mixed-method computer-assisted content analysis suggest weak transfer of issue salience and affective attributes by the campaigns and parties to the press and public agendas. The DeSantis campaign and Republican Party were the most successful at influencing press coverage and public discourse. First-level agenda-setting was observed by press coverage on the Gillum campaign and Democratic Party's agendas. The symmetry between these findings and election results offers correlational support for the limited effects of first- and second-level agenda-building and -setting in state elections.

The Polarizing Effect of Partisan Echo Chambers

We are witnessing increasing partisan polarization across the world. It is often argued that partisan “echo chambers” are one of the drivers of both policy and affective polarization. In this article, we develop and test the argument that the political homogeneity of people’s social environment shapes polarization. Using an innovative, large-scale pre-registered “lab-in-the-field” experiment in the United Kingdom, we examine how polarization is influenced by partisan group homogeneity. We recruit nationally representative partisans and assign them to discuss a salient policy issue, either with like-minded partisans (an echo chamber) or in a mixed-partisan group. This allows us to examine how group composition affects polarization. In line with our expectations, we find that partisan echo chambers increase both policy and affective polarization compared to mixed discussion groups. This has important implications for our understanding of the drivers of polarization and for how out-group animosity might be ameliorated in the mass public.

Vox populi, vox dei: A concept and measure for grassroots socio-political risk using Google Trends

In this paper, we propose a concept of grassroots socio-political risk (SPR) and provide a measure for it that is based on individual-level Google Trends data that captures issue salience. Our concept provides a bottom-up complement to established measures that focus more on political and institutional players and the institutional constraints they face. Our grassroots SPR index attempts to capture public pressure to initiate institutional change in a country. In contrast to existing measures, our Google Trends–based measure captures issue salience directly among individuals rather than media or analyst reports. As such, it is uniquely representative of socio-political sentiment, timely, and widely available. Our concept and measure offer international business (IB) researchers novel opportunities. In addition to developing the index, we scrutinize its validity and provide an illustrative empirical application in the IB context by showing that differences between internal and external assessments of grassroots SPR are contingent on psychic distance.

Pacification through decentralization: An explanatory analysis of ethno‐territorial cabinet conflict in Belgium (1979–2006)

AbstractThe impact of decentralization on ethno‐territorial conflict is widely debated, but empirical analyses of ethno‐territorial party politics are scarce. This paper uses novel data on conflicts in power‐sharing cabinets to explore the relation between decentralization and ethno‐territorial conflicts in the case of Belgium (1979–2006). These data are analysed with the help of poisson and logistic regressions, which confirm the negative association between decentralization and conflict. In addition to institutions, the analyses also examine the relevance of issue saliency, regionalist parties' strength, regionalist cabinet participation, and the proximity of elections. The results contradict the paradox of federalism and add to contemporary debates on ethno‐territorial politics, conflict management, and power‐sharing.

Business power, right-wing populism, and noisy politics: lessons from Brexit and Swiss referendums

This article contributes to debates on business power, noisy politics, and right-wing populism. The populist right weakens strategies of quiet politics, which many suggest has led to a steep decline of business power. I challenge this view and argue that a combination of innovative strategies and ample financial resources allow business associations to exercise power in this environment. Drawing on new empirical evidence, the article makes three central contributions. First, I suggest that the failure of Remain business advocacy in the 2016 Brexit referendum resulted from the constraints of administrative legislation (the PPERA), weaknesses in campaigning strategies, and the CBI leadership’s decision to not register as a campaign organization. Second, while my regression analysis provides some support for Culpepper’s quiet politics argument, the Swiss business federation Economiesuisse has won 90% of the referendum campaigns it has led, including many referendums with high issue salience against right-wing populists. Third, Economiesuisse shows that business strategies of ‘loud voice’ can be successful. With money and innovative public-facing campaigning strategies, business organizations can win in noisy environments and against right-wing populists.