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Introduction I. The Changing Partisan Structure of Support for Voter Identification Laws II. Beliefs About the Prevalence of Voter Fraud A. Beliefs About the Prevalence of Voter Impersonation B. Perceptions [...], This Article updates previous findings concerning the relationship between voter identification laws and perceptions of voter fraud. Courts have established that voter identification laws can be justified as measures that safeguard 'voter confidence.' We demonstrate once again, but with the benefit of new survey data, that people who live in states with voter identification laws do not have greater confidence in elections or perceive lower rates of voter impersonation fraud. Since we last published on the subject, however, we notice an increase in the partisan structure of public opinion on voter identification and voter fraud. As the issue has become more salient and partisan in tone, partisan identity has become a more powerful variable in predicting both support for voter identification laws and beliefs in the prevalence of voter fraud. We note, however, that strong majorities continue to support such laws, even though a large share of the population remains unaware of the existence of voter identification requirements.

IV. RESULTS A. Initial Results The first model specification uses the question of agreement as the dependent variable: Overall, I agree with the Supreme Court's decision in this case. (173) [...]

Can the Supreme Court influence the public's reception of decisions vindicating rights in high-salience contexts, like same-sex marriage, by reasoning in one way over another? Will the people's disagreement with [...]

Introduction I. General Background on Insider Trading II. Why Citizens' Intuitions About Moral Blameworthiness Matter III. Previous Studies of Community Attitudes Regarding Insider Trading IV. Possible Psychological Roots of Opposition [...]

Abstract The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been an active advocate for anti-cartel law and enforcement over the past decade. In particular, it has led a campaign in support [...]

Over the past 150 years, the elections administration in the United States has changed considerably. (1) The eligible population has more than doubled, as race, sex, and residency qualifications have [...], We study public opinions about convenience voting reforms, using a unique state-by-state survey conducted in the 2008 presidential election. Our analysis of the American voting public's support for convenience voting reforms provides a variety of important insights into the potential direction of innovations in the electoral process in the near future. First, we find that the most prominent convenience voting reforms have mixed support. These include attitudes toward automatic voter registration, Election Day voter registration, and moving Election Day to a weekend. These reforms do not have majority support among all voters nationwide, but some enjoy majority support within some states. Second, we find that Internet voting and voting by mail do not receive a great deal of support from American voters. There is no state in which a majority of voters supports Internet voting, nor are there states where expanded vote-by-mail has majority support (other than states which have already implemented these reforms). Finally, we find that an overwhelming majority of Americans support requiring showing photo identification and a bare majority support making Election Day a holiday. Support for reform is highly correlated with political affiliations and attitudes, and especially correlated with support for Barack Obama.

INTRODUCTION When the Supreme Court first entered the political thicket with the "one person, one vote" cases of the 1960s, contemporaneous polls showed the Court to be on the right [...]

A group of ordinary citizens performed better than political scientists and journalists in predicting the outcome of the 2006 Swedish parliamentary elections but also made more errors than the other groups. Men performed better than women, as did people more interested and knowledgeable in politics.

The theoretical and empirical debate over the ability of the U.S. Supreme Court to influence public opinion through its decisions is far from settled. Scholars have examined the question using a variety of theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence, but there is no theoretical consensus, nor are the empirical studies without methodological weaknesses. We enter this debate in an attempt to bring some clarity to the theoretical approaches, overcome some of the methodological shortcomings, and bring a yet unstudied issue area, Court decisions on gay civil rights, under scrutiny. We argue that the ability of Court decisions to influence public opinion is a function of the salience of the issue, the political context, and case specific factors at the aggregate level. At the individual level these factors are also relevant, but citizen characteristics must also be taken into consideration. Our analysis of aggregate level and individual level opinion does indeed suggest that Court decisions can influence public opinion. However, the ability of Court decisions to influence public opinion is conditional. Our findings lend support to the legitimation hypothesis and the structural effects model. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings and suggestions for future research.

A national survey was administered in 1993-1994 (N = 360) and repeated in 2001 (N = 435) to assess the prevalence of homelessness as well as attitudes, opinions and knowledge regarding homelessness. No significant changes in prevalence were found, despite a strong US economy during most of the 7-8 year period. Respondents in 2001 had less stereotyped views of homeless people and were more supportive of services, but came to see homelessness as a less serious problem that was less often due to economic factors. This 'mixed' set of findings may reflect both beliefs on the benefits of a good economy and an increased awareness of the complexity of homelessness. Across the surveys, younger, female, liberal, and less wealthy respondents demonstrated more sympathetic attitudes towards homeless people. KEY WORDS: public opinion; homelessness; change; prevalence.

Public opinion research demonstrates that citizens' opinions depend on elite rhetoric and interpersonal conversations. Yet, we continue to have little idea about how these two forces interact with one another. In this article, we address this issue by experimentally examining how interpersonal conversations affect (prior) elite framing effects. We find that conversations that include only common perspectives have no effect on elite framing, but conversations that include conflicting perspectives eliminate elite framing effects. We also introduce a new individual level moderator of framing effects--called 'need to evaluate'--and we show that framing effects, in general, tend to be short-lived phenomena. In the end, we clarify when elites can and cannot use framing to influence public opinion and how interpersonal conversations affect this process.

A model of opinion formation is used to discover marketing and political science implications.

The following article is a discussion of some of the findings of the first author's recent doctoral research on the public's reasoning about criminal justice. Psychosocial implications of the research [...]

Although the ability of presidents to mobilize opinion on foreign policy issues is well documented, much less is known about presidents' abilities to change public attitudes on social and moral issues. We explore the limits of presidential persuasiveness by examining President Clinton's 1993 proposal to permit gay men and lesbian women to serve openly in the armed forces. Because the issue involved core values and religious beliefs, we might expect Clinton to have been unable to change voter preferences. However, we find evidence of a reciprocal relationship. Clinton's support for the issue persuaded some members of the public to support the policy, even as it also caused others to think less favorably of him.

Objective: To assess community knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) especially in homes, private motor vehicles and licensed premises, and to document levels of support for further government legislation. Methods: 656 persons aged 18 years and over, a sub-sample in a computer-assisted telephone survey of 2,087 randomly selected respondents across NSW, answered 12 ETS-specific questions. The whole sample was asked demographic, smoking status and household membership questions. The overall response rate was 61.4% (consent rate 75.4%). Results: Overall, 32.8% (95% CI 27.8-37.8) of children aged 0-4 years in the households surveyed were reported to live with at least one smoker. Agreement about ETS hazards was lowest in relation to child ear problems (31.2%) and sudden infant death syndrome (50.6%). Complete bans on smoking were reported in 69.9% of homes and 77.1% of private motor vehicles. The percentages favouring total bans in homes (p Conclusion: Smoking is banned in most NSW homes and private motor vehicles. Acceptance of ETS risks is high but there are important knowledge gaps. Considerable support exists for further government regulation of ETS. Media campaigns are likely to reinforce a public environment already receptive of the need for more government ETS restrictions.

This study investigates the effects of exposure to strategic news coverage on political cynicism and campaign evaluations using a nationally representative two-wave panel study and a content analysis of the national news media coverage of the 2000 Danish referendum campaign on the introduction of the euro. The study shows (a) voters were generally cynical about the referendum campaign, (b) the level of political cynicism and negativity about the campaign increased during the campaign, and (c) exposure to news that reported about the campaign in terms of strategy contributed to an increase in political cynicism and negative campaign evaluations. Turnout, however, remained high, suggesting that strategic news coverage and political cynicism in the campaign did not diminish mobilization. The study suggests that the conclusions of previous research about the link between news, cynicism, and participation in U.S. elections need to be modified when other national and electoral contexts are considered.

Two field studies using 1,004 'lost letters' were designed to test the hypotheses that returned responses would be greater in small towns than from a city, that addressees' affiliation with a group either (1) opposed to physical education in schools, (2) supporting gay and lesbian teachers, or (3) advocating Creationism or Darwinism would reduce the return rate. Of 504 letters 'lost' in Study A, 163 (32.3%) were returned in the mail from residents of southeast Louisiana and indicated across 3 addressees and 2 sizes of community, addressees' affiliations were not associated with returned responses. Community size and addressees' affiliations were associated with significantly different rates of return in the city. Return rates from sites within a city were lower when letters were addressed to an organization which opposed (teaching) health education in the schools than to one supporting daily health education. Of 500 letters 'lost' in Study B, 95 (19.0%) were returned from residents of northwest Florida and indicated across 5 addressees and 2 sizes of community, addressees' affiliations were significantly associated with returned responses overall (5 addressees) and in small towns (control, Creationism, Darwinism addressees), but not with community size. Community size and addressees' affiliations were associated with significantly different rates of return in small towns, with returns greater than or equal to those in the city (except for the addressee advocating teaching Darwinism in public schools). The present findings appear to show that applications of the lost letter technique to other divisive social issues are useful in assessing public opinion.

This study empirically identifies both the economic and political determinants of the public's dissatisfaction with government in the United States. Using annual survey data on the public's dissatisfaction with government obtained for the years 1965-1996, it is found that the Vietnam War, Watergate, oil price shocks and higher federal marginal income tax rates resulted in elevated levels of the public's dissatisfaction with government, whereas increases in housing prices and a rising Dow Jones industrial average reduced the public's dissatisfaction with the government

Researchers examined perceived news slants (bias in the media), perceived public opinion, and personal opinion to determine the public's perceptions of these issues. Though the article confined itself to newspapers, the research has relevance for television news programs.