Understanding Public Opinion Research Articles

Policy Frames, Metaphorical Reasoning, and Support for Public Policies

This article evaluates the predictive value of a new theory for understanding public support for alternative solutions to policy problems, which we call policy metaphors. A policy metaphor represents a particular form of cognitive framing that makes use of commonly understood social institutions and judgments about their effectiveness to form “archetypes” against which proposed solutions to new policy problems are compared. We test the extent to which both understanding of and preference for particular policy frames predicts the nature and strength of policy choices by a representative sample of the American public. After controlling for factors that past research has shown to be important in understanding public opinion, including general partisan and ideological attitudes, self-interest, political values, and emotions, the cognitive frames specified by the general theory of policy metaphors are shown to strongly predict public support for hypothetical solutions to three different policy problems. These frames also predict support for President Clinton's 1993–94 health care reforms after controlling for those same conventional predictors. Most importantly, we demonstrate that these cognitive frames help constrain the beliefs of even the least politically aware members of the general public. Discussion centers on the implications of this new approach for understanding public opinion.

Christian Fundamentalists and Public Opinion Toward the Middle East: Israel's New Best Friends?*

Objectives. Although Christian fundamentalist elites have become increasingly vocal in their support for Israel in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, it is not clear that this rhetoric has produced differing attitudes about U.S. foreign policy in public opinion. This article examines whether such differences exist, and whether they are rooted in aspects of fundamentalist eschatology.Methods. Data from a national telephone survey on attitudes toward the Middle East conflict and U.S. policy were examined using multivariate regression and means comparisons.Results. These results demonstrate that Christian fundamentalists are the strongest supporters of Israel in America today. Fundamentalists have greater sympathy for Israel, oppose policies to pressure Israel, and are distinctive from all other groups in their high levels of support for continuing Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, as well as complete Israeli control of Jerusalem.Conclusion. Christian fundamentalists in America are distinctive on this vital issue in American foreign policy because of their literal interpretation of the Bible or their leaders' increased cues on Middle East policies, or both. This suggests that religion is now an important factor in understanding public opinion on U.S. foreign policy in the region.

Individual-level Predictors of Public Outspokenness: A Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore

Individual-level Predictors of Public Outspokenness: A Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore

Understanding Public Opinion in Post-Communist States: The Effects of Statistical Assumptions on Substantive Results

FOLLOWING THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNIST RULE in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, a large number of scholarly works appeared analysing public opinion in the region.' Most of the research has focused on identifying the sources of support for current political leaders, independence, democracy, or the market in the late Soviet period or the early post-Soviet period.2 Developing a systematic understanding of the factors that influence public attitudes about politics in post-communist states can contribute to the long-term success of democratisation, marketisation and state-building efforts. However, the statistical assumptions that guide much of this literature may undermine the validity of the substantive conclusions. In this article we investigate the effects of prevailing assumptions about causality on the substantive results of quantitative survey data analysis in the post-communist mass attitudes literature. Most research about post-communist mass attitudes relies on the specification of a single-stage causal model, usually employing OLS linear regression estimation. Although social scientists have long recognised that such models may be faulty under certain conditions,3 there is little recognition of the problem in the growing literature about post-communist mass attitudes. In addition to model specification, measurement error is a problem that post-communist studies scholars have often ignored. We compare results from a single-equation statistical approach to those of a structural equation model (SEM) in an analysis of support for the government and political system of Kazakhstan by Russian-speaking minorities. The SEM analysis in this study involves estimating a complex (partially mediated) causal structure, employs maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), and includes estimation of a measurement model for attitudinal latent constructs. The results demonstrate that

Breaking ground on the virtual frontier: Surveying civic life on the internet

The Internet provides a virtual frontier to expand our access to information and to increase our knowledge and understanding of public opinion, political behavior, social trends and lifestyles through survey research. Comparable to other technological advancements, such as the telephone and the computer, the Internet presents opportunities that will impact significantly on the process and quality of survey research now and in the twenty-first century. Cyberspace permits us to move beyond traditional face-to-face, mail and telephone surveys, yet still to examine basic issues regarding the quality of data collection: sampling, questionnaire design, survey distribution, means of response, and database creation. This surveys include those posted on LISTERV mailing lists, USENET newsgroups, and the World Wide Web. A survey on politics and civic life, conducted by the authors, is used as a case study.

Measuring Issue Preferences: The Problem of Response Instability

The problem of response instability in survey measures of policy positions has been studied for over 20 years without any apparent resolution. Two major interpretations remain: Philip Converse's nonattitudes model and a measurement error model. One reason why neither interpretation has as yet been rejected or well supported is that previous analyses have depended on three-wave panel data that do not contain sufficient information to assess the goodness-of-fit of the models and also provide unreliable estimates of the error variance for the issue questions. Using five-wave panel data, this article first re-estimates the measurement models for the issue positions to assess goodness-of-fit and then estimates models of response instability to help establish its determinants. Evidence consistent with both interpretations of response instability is found. It thus appears as if neither model can adequately deal with the empirical characteristics of opinion questions in panel data. In the conclusion, a third interpretation of the response instability problem is offered that better accounts for the empirical findings and is more consistent with our understanding of public opinion.

The Military Policy Public

Is the military policy public in the United States-those attentive to and interested in military issues of foreign policy-similar to or different from the foreign policy public generally? This paper identifies this military policy public, specifies some of its demographic characteristics, and compares it with the American foreign policy public and the attentive public policy public. It adds a significant refinement to the understanding of public opinion and public policy relationships. Bernard C. Cohen is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin.

Understanding Public Opinion.

Understanding Public Opinion.

Understanding Public Opinion

Understanding Public Opinion

Understanding Public Opinion, A Guide for Newspapermen and Newspaper Readers.

Understanding Public Opinion, A Guide for Newspapermen and Newspaper Readers.

Understanding Public Opinion. Curtis D. MacDougall

<i>Understanding Public Opinion</i>. Curtis D. MacDougall

Understanding Public Opinion; A Guide for Newspapermen and Newspaper Readers. By Curtis D. MacDougall. (New York: Macmillan Company. 1952. Pp. xii, 698. $5.00.)

Understanding Public Opinion; A Guide for Newspapermen and Newspaper Readers. By Curtis D. MacDougall. (New York: Macmillan Company. 1952. Pp. xii, 698. $5.00.)

Understanding Public Opinion

Understanding Public Opinion

Book Review: Understanding Public Opinion

Book Review: Understanding Public Opinion

The Convivial Respondent

APPLYING polling techniques to a modern variation of an old problem, it is found that certain personality and physical characteristics appear to be correlated with various types of opinions. This study is frankly exploratory, and makes no claims to perfected procedures or conclusive results; it represents an experiment in gathering new types of data through the polling process, and in using this data to attain a fuller understanding of public opinion. The author is founder and co-director of the Instituut voor Marktver!kenning (Institute for Market Research) and the Nederlands Instituut voor de Publieke Opinie (Netherlands Institute of Public Opinion). Formerly active in fields of journalism and advertising, he founded the Netherlands Institute of Public Opinion, together with Dr. W. J. de Jonge, immediately following the liberation of Holland in May, I945.

Social Aspects of Tax Reduction

The idea of pattern is basic to an understanding of public opinion. It throws light on the tax-reduction program. Significant sociological processes occur, such as the domination of group interest by manipulation of certain elements in the traditional tax pattern, and the rationalization which follows public opinion and action.