Turning a Blind Eye: Public Support of Emergency Housing Policies for Sex Offenders

Sexual Abuse ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly M. Socia ◽  
Christopher P. Dum ◽  
Jason Rydberg
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
The Public ◽  
Emergency Housing ◽  
Respondent Characteristics ◽  
Policy Scenarios

In this study, we examine the influences of citizen decision making in the context of four policy scenarios that would affect the living conditions of sex offenders (SOs) residing at an “emergency shelter” budget motel. We surveyed 773 citizens in an online survey about their support for four policy scenarios that would improve the living conditions of SOs: (a) at no cost to the respondent, (b) in exchange for a US$100 tax increase, and (c) by relocating SOs within the respondent’s neighborhood (i.e., “in my backyard”/IMBY scenario). The fourth scenario involved moving nearby SOs into substandard housing located far away from the respondent (i.e., “not in my backyard”/NIMBY). While prior research finds that the public overwhelmingly supports punitive SO policies, we find that indifference is a mainstay of public opinion about improving SO housing conditions. That is, we find only modest levels of average support for any of the policy scenarios, and policy support decreased when increased taxes would be involved, compared with a “no cost” scenario. While no respondent characteristics significantly predicted policy support consistently across all four scenarios, some scenarios showed stark differences in support when considering specific respondent characteristics. Overall, these results suggest that what does affect support depends on the details of the policy being proposed, as well as who is considering the policy. We end by discussing the policy implications of our study for both policymakers and the public.

Positively Resilient? How Framing Local Action Affects Public Opinion

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-103
Author(s):  
Sara Meerow ◽  
Fabian G. Neuner
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Local Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
Survey Experiments

Cities face numerous environmental challenges. Local governments need the public’s support to tackle these problems, and scholars and practitioners have suggested that framing initiatives around resilience, as opposed to sustainability, reducing vulnerability, or adaptation, may increase public support for local action. Resilience, they argue, has a better social connotation, is more positive, and less polarizing than related concepts. Empirical evidence supporting these claims is lacking. In three online survey experiments, we test whether the public is more likely to support policies when they are framed in terms of “resilience.” We also examine public conceptualizations of these different terms and whether resilience has a more positive connotation. We find significant differences in policy support, perceived importance, and interpretations of the concepts. The study confirms that framing affects policy support, but complicates claims that resilience is inherently more appealing. These findings have implications for urban research and policymaking.

scholarly journals Responsibilization and Sexual Stigma Under Austerity: Surveying Public Support for Government-Funded PrEP in England

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-653
Author(s):  
Timothy Hildebrandt ◽  
Leticia Bode ◽  
Jessica S. C. Ng
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sexual Stigma ◽  
The Government ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Media Narratives

Abstract Introduction Under austerity, governments shift responsibilities for social welfare to individuals. Such responsibilization can be intertwined with pre-existing social stigmas, with sexually stigmatized individuals blamed more for health problems due to “irresponsible” sexual behavior. To understand how sexual stigma affects attitudes on government healthcare expenditures, we examine public support for government-provisioned PrEP in England at a time when media narratives cast the drug as an expensive benefit for a small, irresponsible social group and the National Health Service’s long-term sustainability was in doubt. Methods This paper uses data from an original survey (N = 738) conducted in September 2016, when public opinion should be most sensitive to sexual stigma. A survey experiment tests how the way beneficiaries of PrEP were described affected support for NHS provision of it. Contrary to expectations, we found that support was high (mean = 3.86 on a scale of 1 to 5) irrespective of language used or beneficiary group mentioned. Differences between conditions were negligible. Discussion Sexual stigma does not diminish support for government-funded PrEP, which may be due to reverence for the NHS; resistance to responsibilization generally; or just to HIV, with the public influenced by sympathy and counter-messaging. Social policy implications Having misjudged public attitudes, it may be difficult for the government to continue to justify not funding PrEP; the political rationale for contracting out its provision is unnecessary and flawed. With public opinion resilient to responsibilization narratives and sexual stigma even under austerity, welfare retrenchment may be more difficult than social policymakers presume.

scholarly journals Parking Policy Acceptability in Wellington CBD

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kate Coles
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
The Public ◽  
Car Use ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Potential Factors

<p>The car has become the dominant mode of transportation in many cities, giving drivers the sense of freedom and convenience to travel at any time between specific locations. However, this increase in car use has created numerous negative outcomes for society including pollution and congestion. Changing individual travel behaviour away from car use is a challenge that many cities now face in an effort to combat car induced issues. Transport pricing policies are often viewed as an effective method in decreasing levels of car use. However, these policies are often not implemented due to a lack of public support. This research uses a quantitative approach to explore potential factors that may be influencing parking policy acceptability among levels of residents in the Greater Wellington Region. Using an online survey, findings indicate that parking policy acceptability levels to the public are influenced by policy differences in fee level and revenue allocation, as well as individuals' level of personal environmental understanding and concern. The Greed-Efficiency-Fairness (GEF) hypothesis is presented as a theory to explain the changes seen in acceptability levels between different policies and personal characteristics of individuals. It is concluded that, for the study sample, parking policy acceptability levels would most increase when revenue was allocated to improving the quality of active transportation and public transportation. Acceptability levels would further be enhanced by highlighting the beneficial outcomes that the policy would have at both an individual and societal level.</p>

scholarly journals Public Attitudes toward Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from Five Chinese Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Guan ◽  
Ke Meng ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Lan Xue
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
National Level ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Public ◽  
Heuristic Systematic Model ◽  
Development Goals

Raising public awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a critical prerequisite for their implementation. However, little is known about attitude formation among the public toward SDGs at the national level. We explored this topic in China, a country that has emerged as a leading world economy with strong transformational imperatives to work toward sustainable development. Following Chaiken’s heuristic–systematic model and using data from an online survey with 4128 valid respondents, this study investigated the factors that affect public support for SDGs and explains how individuals form supportive attitudes. Our empirical evidence showed that in China, first, public support is mainly shaped by demographic attributes (gender, age, and educational attainment), value predispositions (e.g., altruistic values and anthropocentric worldviews), and the level of SDG-relevant knowledge. Second, an interaction effect exists between value predispositions and knowledge among the public concerning support for SDGs. Third, the Chinese public views the implementation of SDGs as a part of development policy rather than environmental policy. This study provides empirical findings on the factors that account for public attitudes toward SDGs, outlining some useful implications for designing policy tools that would bolster SDG action.

scholarly journals Evaluating Public Policy Support for Agricultural Cooperatives

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3769
Author(s):  
Erika Ribašauskienė ◽  
Diana Šumylė ◽  
Artiom Volkov ◽  
Tomas Baležentis ◽  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Agricultural Cooperatives ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Support Measures ◽  
Major Stakeholder

Creation of a sustainable agricultural sector involves boosting the cooperation activities as these contribute to the societal and economic development of the farms, farmers and rural societies. This paper contributes to the literature on the analysis of the drivers and obstacles of cooperation development in agriculture. The case of Lithuania is considered as the cooperation activities are lagging behind the European Union (EU) practice here. Specifically, analysis of the public support measures and the expert survey are carried out to analyse the effectiveness of the public policy measures as represented in the relevant legal acts. The experts involve policy makers, farmers’ organisations and academia, which are the major stakeholder groups in Lithuania. The results indicate the effectiveness of the measures linked to capacity building (in the sense of human capital) requires improvement, whereas those related to financial support and promotion of the farmers’ organisations are much better perceived. Thus, public support measures are available to promote cooperation in agriculture, yet the legal system of Lithuania still requires improvement in accommodating effective agricultural cooperatives.

Plea Bargaining Practices: Less Covert, more Public Support?

2004 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Factorial Design ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Opening Up

Although a common practice in many legal systems, plea bargaining (PB) tends to be held in low esteem by the public at large. In the present study, which was based on a survey of a national sample of Israeli respondents, a factorial design methodology was used to examine public attitudes toward varied PB scenarios. It was hypothesized that opening up PB procedures to parties other than the traditionally involved “insiders” would enhance public support for PB. The findings of the study generally confirmed this hypothesis, albeit not completely: The effect of decreased covertness was minimal. This article concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the findings.

Using attribution to foster public support for alternative policies to combat obesity

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 418-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Garbarino ◽  
Paul Henry ◽  
Sally Kerfoot
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
External Locus ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Limited Effectiveness ◽  
Policy Types ◽  
Negative Behaviour

Purpose An increasing array of policies have been suggested to combat rising obesity. Regardless of the policy intervention that is selected each comes with a cost in the form of imposition on the public purse, or regulative restrictions on business or individuals. Consequently, potential opposition makes it critical to garner sufficient public support for whichever policy is selected. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of attributional framing for the causes of obesity (framed around locus of control and controllability) to increase support for a range of policy interventions designed to reduce obesity. Design/methodology/approach Using an online panel, the authors manipulate the perceived cause of obesity along the internal/external locus and controllability/uncontrollability dimensions to assess whether attribution of causes of obesity can influence support for policy interventions that either encourage positive behaviour or discourage negative behaviour. Findings The authors find that framing the causes of obesity to emphasise internal/external locus and controllability/uncontrollability has significant and predictable effects on policy support for men but not for women. In this American study, they show that men are more open to persuasion because their views on the causes of obesity are less firmly held than women. Practical implications Highlighting the external and controllable causes of obesity was the most effective, suggesting that emphasising the role of the food industry in obesity can garner public support amongst males for a broad range of policy types. The limited effectiveness with women suggests that media focus be directed at male-oriented channels and outlets. Originality/value The authors show that, at least amongst men, attribution framing can be used as a tool to increase support for policy interventions to prevent obesity.

scholarly journals Exploring cross-national public support for the use of enhanced weathering as a land-based carbon dioxide removal strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 165 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elspeth Spence ◽  
Emily Cox ◽  
Nick Pidgeon
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Level Of Concern ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis study explores how public attitudes across three countries influence support towards terrestrial enhanced weathering, whereby silicate minerals are applied to agricultural land to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. An online survey was administered in Australia (N = 1000), the UK (N = 1000), and the USA (N = 1026) where there are ongoing field trials of this technique. Findings are similar across all three countries with many participants unfamiliar with enhanced weathering and unsure about supporting the use of enhanced weathering. Results show that positive affect is the main predictor for support of this technique, along with perceived benefits and level of concern about climate change. Open-ended questions asking why respondents would or would not support the use of enhanced weathering elicit mainly affective concepts, with enhanced weathering seen by individual respondents as either something mainly positive or mainly negative, with others saying it sounds risky and/or would have impacts on the environment. The way in which enhanced weathering is communicated is likely to influence support of the use of this strategy so must be undertaken carefully. Overall, our findings show that it is imperative to continue to engage the public, thereby allowing their views to be incorporated as enhanced weathering technology develops over time.

scholarly journals Public Views of the Economy of the Renewable Energy Sources: Evidence from Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-266
Author(s):  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
Victoria Akberdina
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Climate Changes ◽  
Public Views

Recent worldwide growing awareness of the global climate changes stressed the importance of developing and supporting the renewable energy sources (RES). However, the public support for RES varies across various countries and regions, especially those abundant in traditional fossil fuels. This paper presents the analysis of the public views of the economics of the renewable energy using the results of the online survey (N = 750) conducted in several regions of the Russian Federation, a country abundant in natural gas and oil. Our results indicate that there is a mixed opinion on trust in RES as opposed to the traditional energy sources. Even though we found some support for the renewable energy technologies, it appears that it is correlated with the respondents’ concerns about the environmental protection and sustainable development as well as with some demographic variables. The outcomes of the regression analysis confirmed that positive attitudes towards climate protection predetermined the support for various types of RES, while the financial or political gains did not come through as significant. The results indicate that public views on the renewable energy sources could and should be shaped by the information campaigns and presentations in mass media conducted by relevant policymakers and public authorities.

Guns and Butter in China: How Chinese Citizens Respond to Military Spending

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Xiao Han ◽  
Michael Sadler ◽  
Kai Quek
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Military Spending ◽  
The Public ◽  
National Pride ◽  
Chinese Military ◽  
Domestic Spending ◽  
Public Money ◽  
Rising Power

Abstract Militaries are sustained by public money that is diverted away from other domestic ends. How the public react to the “guns-versus-butter” trade-off is thus an important question in understanding the microfoundations of Chinese military power. However, there are few studies on public attitudes towards military spending in China, whose rising power has been a grave concern to many policymakers around the world. We fielded a national online survey to investigate the nature of public support for military spending in China. We find that Chinese citizens support military spending in the abstract, but their support diminishes when considered alongside other domestic spending priorities. We also find that public support for military spending coexists surprisingly with anti-war sentiments and a significant strain of isolationism. In addition, while the conventional wisdom suggests that nationalism moves a state towards bellicosity and war, we find that Chinese citizens with a stronger sense of national pride report stronger anti-war sentiments than other citizens.

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