Public Attitudes toward Government Spending

This study examines the nature, sources, and consequences of citizens' attitudes toward government spending. Data from the 1984 CPS National Election Study are used to perform a scaling analysis of mass spending preferences across a set of 10 public policies. The empirical results indicate that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of political science 1994-05, Vol.38 (2), p.336-361
Main Author: Jacoby, William G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
BUDGETING, BUDGETS, FISCAL PLANNING
Citizens
Defense spending
ELECTION
Expenditure
Expenditures
Fiscal Policy
Government
Government spending
Party identification
Political attitudes
Political candidates
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Political parties
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Public assistance programs
Public Opinion
Public schools
Social Attitudes
Social welfare
United States
United States of America
UNITED STATES, 1945 TO PRESENT
WELFARE
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Description
Summary:This study examines the nature, sources, and consequences of citizens' attitudes toward government spending. Data from the 1984 CPS National Election Study are used to perform a scaling analysis of mass spending preferences across a set of 10 public policies. The empirical results indicate that there is a coherent structure underlying citizens' attitudes toward social welfare spending. In contrast, spending preferences for nonwelfare programs are separate and largely unrelated concerns. I argue that this distinction is essential for understanding public opinion on government spending. And further analyses incorporating the difference between welfare and nonwelfare spending preferences provide important, theoretically relevant insights about the relationship between citizens in the mass public and stimuli in the political world.
ISSN:0092-5853
1540-5907
DOI:10.2307/2111407