Do Politicians Shape Public Opinion?

Most research on political representation focuses on how citizens’ ideology and partisanship influence their support for political candidates – leaving the question of whether (and how) elected officials influence citizens’ positions on political issues open to debate. The hypothesis tested here – using a unique, quasi-experimental design with American National Election Study data between 1956 and 2004 – is that Democratic representatives shift the opinions of constituents in the pro-Democratic and liberal direction, while Republican representatives shift constituents’ opinions in the pro-Republican and conservative direction. The findings show that incumbent representatives indeed move their constituents’ opinions in a particular direction, and that representatives have a stronger impact on constituents who are more frequently exposed to their messages.

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Measuring State Public Opinion with the Senate National Election Study

State Politics & Policy Quarterly ◽

10.1177/153244000100100107 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 111-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

Barbara Norrander

Keyword(s):

Public Opinion ◽

State Politics ◽

National Election ◽

Election Study ◽

Public Preferences ◽

National Election Study ◽

American National Election Study

The surveys of Senate races from 1988 to 1992 conducted by the American National Election Study include a number of issue questions that can be aggregated to measure state public opinion. A simple-to-compute coefficient is used to judge the aggregated reliability of these measures. A comparison of these state public opinion measures on specific issues to more general indicators, such as state ideology and partisanship, demonstrates their usefulness in obtaining a richer depiction of public preferences for studies of state politics.

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Is it Really Red vs. Blue? Politics, Religion, and the Culture War Within

American Review of Politics ◽

10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2008.29.0.1-18 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 1-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jody Baumgartner ◽

Peter Francia ◽

Jonathan Morris ◽

Carmine Scavo

Keyword(s):

Public Opinion ◽

Social Issues ◽

Popular Media ◽

Culture War ◽

Election Study ◽

Literal Interpretation ◽

The Bible ◽

Recent Scholarship ◽

National Election Study ◽

American National Election Study

Popular media accounts have suggested there is a culture war raging between residents in red and blue states. Conversely, recent scholarship challenges that position and finds most Americans are not engaged in a culture war, but rather hold moderate positions on controversial social issues. Using public opinion data from the American National Election Study, we attempt to shed further light on the culture war debate. Our findings indicate that there are significant divisions between citizens who hold a literal interpretation of the Bible and those who do not. We conclude that a culture war does not rage between red and blue state residents as popular media accounts often portray; however, there is evidence of polarization within red and blue states with biblical beliefs at the center of this division.

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Political Voice across Issues

American Insecurity ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691162966.003.0006 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Adam Seth Levine

Keyword(s):

Political Participation ◽

Labor Force ◽

Study Data ◽

Economic Insecurity ◽

Political Organizations ◽

Political Issues ◽

The Past ◽

The People ◽

National Election Study ◽

Look Back

This chapter examines patterns of political participation more broadly across time and space. It directly compares people's likelihood of becoming active based on which political issues they consider most important. The data for this analysis are drawn from the American National Election Study data from the past three decades. The chapter asks: If we look back over the past thirty years, have the people who consider insecurity issues to be most important also been less likely to spend resources on politics than those who consider other issues to be most important? Have they been less likely to donate money to political organizations? And, if they are in the labor force, have they been less likely to volunteer as well? Moreover, do these differences remain even after we take into account other differences between the types of people who prioritize economic insecurity issues versus those who consider other issues to be most important?

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Do Americans View Financial Threats as Important Political Issues?

American Insecurity ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691162966.003.0002 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Adam Seth Levine

Keyword(s):

Time Series Data ◽

Job Insecurity ◽

Time Frame ◽

Study Data ◽

Series Data ◽

Daily Lives ◽

Political Issues ◽

The People ◽

National Election Study ◽

The Cost

This chapter describes in greater detail the objective situation facing Americans in four major areas of financial threats: job insecurity, healthcare costs, retirement, and the cost of college. It analyzes the politics of such threats among the mass public. It examines the extent to which the people who consider such issues important are facing them in their own daily lives, as opposed to a situation in which their concerns are reflective of what others are facing. The data for this chapter are drawn from several sources, including time series data from Gallup beginning in the early 1950s as well as American National Election Study data from the past three decades that (broadly) match the time frame in which the objective situation in these four areas has become more insecure.

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