Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Neal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Issue ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Spaceflight ◽  
Mental Construct ◽  
Firm Commitment ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

According to public opinion polls, Americans are rather fickle about space exploration. In open-ended questions—“Do you think the United States should explore space?”—most eagerly say yes. To more focused questions—“Do you think the United States should explore space or tackle [insert any social issue here]?”—many supporters defect. This suggests that people generally do not have a firm commitment to the meaning or value of space exploration, and particularly not to its higher-risk, higher-cost mode: human spaceflight. Yet most do carry around some kind of mental construct—a metaphor, a meme, a cliché—that gives spaceflight meaning in their own intellectual domains....

The Power of Polls?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Roy ◽  
Shane P. Singh ◽  
Patrick Fournier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Experimental Design ◽  
The United States ◽  
Voting Behaviour ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

Public opinion polls have become increasingly prominent during elections, but how they affect voting behaviour remains uncertain. In this work, we estimate the effects of poll exposure using an experimental design in which we randomly assign the availability of polls to participants in simulated election campaigns. We draw upon results from ten independent experiments conducted across six countries on four continents (Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to examine how polls affect the amount of information individuals seek and the votes that they cast. We further assess how poll effects differ according to individual-level factors, such as partisanship and political sophistication, and the content included in polls and how it is presented. Our work provides a comprehensive assessment of the power of polls and the implications for poll reporting in contemporary elections.

Political Culture and Values

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-47
Author(s):  
Russell J. Dalton
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Industrial Democracies ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

A long intellectual tradition links the different historical experiences in Canada and the United States (U.S.) to continuing contrasts in their political cultures. New evidence from contemporary public opinion polls highlights more cultural similarities between nations than differences. In broad value priorities, Canadians and Americans are more similar to each other than to the citizens in most other advanced industrial democracies. Feelings of national identity and trust in government are also strikingly similar across these two nations. The norms of good citizenship are very comparable. And perhaps most surprising of all, images of the appropriate role of government overlap substantially. In short, the rhetoric of cultural differences is less apparent in the reality of public opinion surveys.

Conceptualising hegemonic legitimacy

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID P. RAPKIN ◽  
DAN BRAATEN
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Family Resemblance ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Basic Level ◽  
Multidimensional Concept

AbstractWhat is international legitimacy and whence does it stem? What entities seek it and why, and who grants or withholds it? How might the different meanings of the concept be reconciled? This article argues that Family Resemblance Concept (FRC) methods are particularly well-suited to explicating the complex meanings associated with this multidimensional concept. We start with a basic level definition based on subjective perceptions and beliefs, the normative quality of oughtness, and the idea of consent. We then expand this definition by developing several secondary-level dimensions: shared values, constitutionalism (consisting of two forms of process legitimacy), and outcome legitimacy. At the indicator level, we examine 14 different survey questions asked in international public opinion polls to provide a tentative empirical glimpse of how our FRC version of legitimacy could be operationalised and tested. The paper concludes with a discussion of the usefulness of the FRC scheme in imposing some order on the legitimacy concept and in illuminating the recent legitimacy problems afflicting the United States.

scholarly journals Public Policy and the Ageing Workforce in the United States

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara E. Rix
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

Despite an ageing work force and the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers that could lead to serious labour, skills, and occupational shortages, older workers are not high on the policy agenda in the United States. Nonetheless, labour force participation rates for the older population have been rising, and public opinion polls reveal a sizeable demand for post-retirement employment. The challenge lies in meeting that demand and fostering longer worklives on the part of even more older Americans. A substantial public policy response is by no means certain, although raising the retirement age is likely to feature prominently in the debate on Social Security reform.

Public Opinion and the Democratic Peace

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL R. TOMZ ◽  
JESSICA L. P. WEEKS
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls ◽  
Shed Light

One of the most striking findings in political science is the democratic peace: the absence of war between democracies. Some authors attempt to explain this phenomenon by highlighting the role of public opinion. They observe that democratic leaders are beholden to voters and argue that voters oppose war because of its human and financial costs. This logic predicts that democracies should behave peacefully in general, but history shows that democracies avoid war primarily in their relations with other democracies. In this article we investigate not whether democratic publics are averse to war in general, but whether they are especially reluctant to fight other democracies. We embedded experiments in public opinion polls in the United States and the United Kingdom and found that individuals are substantially less supportive of military strikes against democracies than against otherwise identical autocracies. Moreover, our experiments suggest that shared democracy pacifies the public primarily by changing perceptions of threat and morality, not by raising expectations of costs or failure. These findings shed light on a debate of enduring importance to scholars and policy makers.

Rationales for Space Exploration

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-46
Author(s):  
James S.J. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
General Public ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Space Settlement

This chapter considers and rejects traditional spaceflight rationales, accenting the insubstantial evidence that is usually offered in their support. It uses regression analyses and public opinion data to show that spaceflight activities do not have a clear impact on either STEM degree conferral rates or overall scientific literacy within the United States. Next, it uses public opinion data to show that the general public is not especially interested in astrobiology or in the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. It also uses genetics and anthropological research to show that there is no innate human biological compulsion to explore space. Finally, it describes and criticizes the “space frontier” metaphor as well as basic arguments for space resource exploitation and space settlement.

Why Americans Don't Care about Income Inequality

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Glazer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Race Problem ◽  
Public Opinion Polls ◽  
Opinion Polls

The United States is the most unequal of the economically advanced nations, but despite this inequality there seems to less concern in the USA for inequality, less support for measures to reduce it, than in other economically advanced nations. This is demonstrated by the lesser percentage of GDP that supports redistributive programs attempting to redirect resources to the poor and less prosperous part of the population than we typically find in Europe. Public opinion polls also show less concern or sympathy for the poor in the United States. A recent major effort to explain this anomaly argues that the explanation is the race problem, and the identification of the poor with blacks. As against Europe, redistributive programs are not seen as programs for ‘us’ and ‘people like us’, but for those who are different and less deserving, particularly blacks, and this seems true. But one must add to this the strong tradition in the USA of successive immigrant groups providing through religious and other institutions for the welfare of their own kind, a tradition which has reduced the public support for public services for all.

Public Opinion on Refugee Policy in the United States, 1938-2019: Increasing Support for Refugees and the Sympathy Effect

2020 ◽  
pp. 019791832095412
Author(s):  
Mariano Sana
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
The Public ◽  
Response Choice ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Refugee Policies ◽  
Opinion Polls

Eight decades of opinion polls (1938–2019) on US refugee policies show that most Americans have historically opposed admitting refugees but this trend has been reversed in the twenty-first century. An examination of the questions pollsters asked reveals that when respondents were offered a middle response choice (e.g. “the number of refugees is about right”), their opposition often morphed into approval of the admissions status quo. Findings also show some evidence of a fait-accompli effect: The public tended to be more supportive of refugees when welcoming policies were enacted and when refugees were already on US soil. Furthermore, the United States public reported more supportive attitudes toward refugees when asked about any type of policy — welcoming or restrictive — and when asked questions concerning the context of reception of admitted refugees. I label this pattern a “sympathy effect,” whereby respondents revealed more support for refugees when answering contextualized rather than abstract questions. This finding implies that pro-refugee policies might have more popular support than often assumed and that the extremely restrictive policies toward refugee admissions of the current US government are out-of-sync with both historical trends and current American public opinion.

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