Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:09:22.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public preferences for Zika policy and responsibility in the absence of partisan cues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Jennifer M. Connolly ,
Casey Klofstad ,
Joseph Uscinski  and
Jonathan West
Jennifer M. Connolly*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Miami, USA
Casey Klofstad
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Miami, USA
Joseph Uscinski
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Miami, USA
Jonathan West
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Miami, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the absence of partisan ownership of an issue, what factors shape public preferences for federal, state and local policy action? The Zika virus provides a unique context in which to examine this question, as it is a new threat to public health in the United States and lacks clear partisan ownership. We examine (1) which Zika policies do citizens support, (2) at which level(s) of government and (3) what factors explain citizen assignment of policy responsibility to different levels of government? Using nationally representative survey data, we find that the three most popular policy responses to Zika are travel warnings, research funding and public education, with the federal government being the preferred policy actor. In the absence of clear partisan issue ownership, we find that Republicans are significantly more likely to prefer state policy action, while partisanship has no impact on public preferences for federal or local policy action.

Keywords

federalismpolicy assignmentpublic opinionZika
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 402 - 427
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achen, CH Bartels, LM (2017) Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Alford, J (1993) Towards a New Public Management Model: Beyond ‘Managerialism’ and its Critics. Australian Journal of Public Administration 52(2): 135–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansolabehere, S Schaffner, BF (2017) Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) common content, 2016. doi: 10.7910/DVN/GDF6Z0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arceneaux, K (2005) Does Federalism Weaken Democratic Representation in the United States? Publius: The Journal of Federalism 35(2): 297–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, LL Bennett, SE (1990) Living with Leviathan: Americans Coming to Terms with Big Government. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Boudreau, C MacKenzie, SA (2014) Informing the Electorate? How Party Cues and Policy Information Affect Public Opinion about Initiatives. American Journal of Political Science 58(1): 48–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewer, TL (2004) US Public Opinion on Climate Change Issues: Implications for Consensus-Building and Policymaking. Climate Policy 4(4): 359–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broockman, D Butler, DM (2017) The Causal Effects of Elite Position-Taking on Voter Attitudes: Field Experiments with Elite Communication. American Journal of Political Science 61(1): 208–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulman-Pozen, J (2013) Partisan Federalism. Harvard Law Review 127, 1077–1146.Google Scholar
Cahn, E (1997) The Co-Production Imperative. Social Policy 27(3): 62–67.Google Scholar
Cantril, A Cantril, SD (1999) Reading Mixed Signals: Ambivalence in American Public Opinion About Government. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.Google Scholar
Cavari, A Freedman, G (2019) Partisan Cues and Opinion Formation on Foreign Policy. American Politics Research 47(1): 29–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, D (2017) Florida to Offer First Look at Zika Research Funded with $25 Million in Grants. Miami Herald, 6 October.Google Scholar
Chanley, V, Rudolph, TJ Rahn, WM (2000) The Origins and Consequences of Public Trust in Government: A Time Series Analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly 64(3): 239–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clinton, JD Grissom, JA (2015) Public Information, Public Learning and Public Opinion: Democratic Accountability in Education Policy. Journal of Public Policy 35(3): 355–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, RL Kincaid, J (2006) Public Opinion on US Federal and Intergovernmental Issues in 2006: Continuity and Change. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 36(3): 443–459.Google Scholar
Conlan, TJ (1993) Federal, State, or Local? Trends in the Public’s Judgment. The Public Perspective 4, 3–10.Google Scholar
Dredze, M, Broniatowski, DA Hilyard, KM (2016) Zika Vaccine Misconceptions: A Social Media Analysis. Vaccine 34(30): 3441–3442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enns, PK (2015) Relative Policy Support and Coincidental Representation. Perspectives on Politics 13(4): 1053–1064.Google Scholar
Feather, NT (1985) Attitudes, Values, and Attributions: Explanations of Unemployment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48(4): 876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, M (2016) Miami Beach Protestors Shout Down Zika Meeting over Pesticide Use. NBC News, 14 September, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/miami-beach-protesters-shout-down-zika-meeting-over-pesticide-use-n648256 (accessed 29 March 2017).Google Scholar
Gilens, M Page, BI (2014) Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Perspectives on Politics 12(3): 564–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glenza, J (2016) “Zika Virus: Floridians Fear ‘Pandora’s Box’ of Genetically Altered Mosquitos” The Guardian.com, 14 August.Google Scholar
Goertzel, T (2010) Conspiracy Theories in Science. EMBO Reports 11(7): 493–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetherington, MJ Nugent, JD (2001) Explaining Public Support for Devolution: The Role of Political Trust. In John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Mores (eds.), What is it About Government that Americans Dislike?. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 134–155.Google Scholar
Iyengar, S (1989) How Citizens Think About Political Issues: A Matter of Responsibility. American Journal of Political Science 33, 878–900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, N (2017) An Experimental Test of How Americans Think About Federalism. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 47(4): 572–598.Google Scholar
Jacoby, WG (1988) The Impact of Party Identification on Issue Attitudes. American Journal of Political Science 32(3): 643–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, W Wlezien, C (2015) Preferences, Problems and Representation. Political Science Research and Methods 3(3): 659–681.Google Scholar
Kam, CD Mikos, RA (2007) Do Citizens Care About Federalism? An Experimental Test. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 4(3): 589–624.Google Scholar
Kata, A (2010) A Postmodern Pandora’s Box: Anti-Vaccination Misinformation on the Internet. Vaccine 28(7): 1709–1716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelleher, CA Wolak, J (2007) Explaining Public Confidence in the Branches of State Government. Political Research Quarterly 60(4): 707–721.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluegel, JR (1990) Trends in Whites’ Explanations of the Black-White Gap in Socioeconomic Status, 1977-1989. American Sociological Review 55(4): 512–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluegel, JR Smith, ER (2017) Beliefs About Inequality: Americans’ Views of What is and What Ought to Be. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konisky, D (2011) Public Preferences for Environmental Policy Responsibility. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 41(1): 76–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leighley, JE Oser, J (2017) Representation in an Era of Political and Economic Inequality: How and When Citizen Engagement Matters. Perspectives on Politics 16(2): 1–17.Google Scholar
Mechanic, D (2001) The Managed Care Backlash: Perceptions and Rhetoric in Health Care Policy and the Potential for Health Care Reform. The Milbank Quarterly 79(1): 35–54.Google ScholarPubMed
Mikos, RA (2007) The Populist Safeguards of Federalism. Ohio St. Law Journal 68, 1669–1731.Google Scholar
Mishler, W Sheehan, RS (1993) The Supreme Court as a Countermajoritarian Institution? The Impact of Public Opinion on Supreme Court decisions. American Political Science Review 87(1): 87–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oehl, B, Schaffer, L Bernauer, T (2017) How to Measure Public Demand for Policies When There is No Appropriate Survey Data? Journal of Public Policy 37(2): 173–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, BI (1994) Democratic Responsiveness? Untangling the Links Between Public Opinion and Policy. PS: Political Science & Politics 27(1): 25–29.Google Scholar
Reher, S (2016) The Effects of Congruence in Policy Priorities on Satisfaction with Democracy. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 26(1): 40–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roeder, PW (1994) Public Opinion and Policy Leadership in the American States (No. 5). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, J (2016) How $1.1 Billion will be Spent on Zika. Miami Herald, 29 September.Google Scholar
Salmon, DA, Moulton, LH, Omer, SB, deHart, MP, Stokley, S Halsey, NA. (2005) Factors Associated With Refusal of Childhood Vaccines Among Parents of School-Aged Children: A Case-Control Study. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 159(5): 470–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider, SK Jacoby, WG (2003) Public Attitudes Toward the Policy Responsibilities of the National and State Governments: Evidence from South Carolina. State Politics and Policy Quarterly 3, 246–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, SK Jacoby, WG (2008) Citizen’s Perceptions of Intergovernmental Policy Responsibilities. Paper Presented at the 2008 State Politics and Policy Conference, May, Philadelphia, PA.Google Scholar
Schneider, SK Jacoby, WG (2013) ‘Intuitive Federalism’ and Public Opinion Toward Government. APSA 2013 Annual Meeting Paper, American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Schneider, SK, Jacoby, WG Lewis, DC (2011) Public Opinion Toward Intergovernmental Policy Responsibilities. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 41(1): 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segall, M (2000) From Cooperation to Competition in National Health Systems—and Back?: Impact on Professional Ethics and Quality of Care. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management 15(1): 61–79.3.0.CO;2-4>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharma, M, Yadav, K, Yadav, N Ferdinand, KC (2017) Zika Virus Pandemic: Analysis of Facebook as a Social Media Health Information Platform. American Journal of Infection Control 45(3): 301–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, GM Reinhart, SL (2001) Trends: Devolution and Confidence in Government. The Public Opinion Quarterly 65(3): 369–388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soroka, SN Wlezien, C (2010) Degrees of Democracy: Politics, Public Opinion, and Policy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stimson, JA, MacKuen, MB Erikson, RS (1995) Dynamic Representation. American Political Science Review 89(3): 543–565.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P (1982) Two Cheers for the Welfare State: Public Opinion and Private Welfare. Journal of Public Policy 2(4): 319–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Texas Health and Human Services (2018) Texas Zika Materials, www.texaszika.org/materials.htm (accessed 29 March 2017).Google Scholar
Uslaner, EM (2001) Is Washington Really the Problem? In Hibbing J and Theiss-Morse E (eds.), What is it About Government that Americans Dislike. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 118–133.Google Scholar
Viglucci, A (2016) Is Insecticide Sprayed to Fight Zika a Risk for People and Wildlife? Miami Herald, 12 August.Google Scholar
Welsh, T Pringle, M (2001) Editorial. Social capital: Trusts Need to Recreate Trust. British Medical Journal 323, 177–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wlezien, C (1995) The Public as Thermostat: Dynamics of Preferences for Spending. American Journal of Political Science 39(4): 981–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wlezien, C (2017) Public Opinion and Policy Representation: On Conceptualization, Measurement, and Interpretation. Policy Studies Journal 45(4): 561–582.Google Scholar
Zaller, J (1992) The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Verba, S, Schlozman, KL Brady, HE (1995) Voice and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Connolly et al. supplementary material

Connolly et al. supplementary material
Download Connolly et al. supplementary material(File)
File 97.5 KB
Supplementary material: Link

Connolly et al. dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WFOVZZ
Link