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This paper provides an introduction to and some initial analyses of responses to questions about government spending in the CSES 4 module. Thus far, we have data for just 11 countries - the possibilities where analysis is concerned are rather limited. Even so, we aim here to describe the initial justification for the questions, and then to review the data gathered thus far. Our analyses will then focus on (a) basic country-level descriptives, (b) evidence of (cross-sectional) thermostatic responsiveness to government spending, and (c) differences in spending preferences across income cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that citizens' attitudes toward immigration are driven, in part, by attitudes toward racial diversity. In this study, we draw on a unique online survey experiment conducted with representative samples of both Americans and Canadians to directly test this assertion. The analysis is based on a 2X2 experimental design embedded in a series of immigrant vignettes that vary the racial background and social status of an individual applying for immigration to the US/Canada. We examine the extent to which both racial and economic-status cues affect support for immigration. Results offer new and unique information on the structure of attitudes on diversity and immigration in the US and Canada [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past work suggests that support for welfare in the US is heavily influenced by citizens' racial attitudes. Indeed, the idea that many Americans think of welfare recipients as poor Blacks (and especially as poor Black women) has been a common explanation for Americans' comparatively low support for redistribution. In this study, we extend existing work on how racialized portrayals of recipients affect attitudes toward redistribution. The data for the analysis are drawn from a new and unique online survey experiment, implemented by YouGov Polimetrix and conducted with national samples in the US, UK and Canada. Through a series of survey vignettes, we experimentally manipulate the ethno-racial background of policy beneficiaries for various types of redistributive programs. By exploring whether citizens respond to other minority groups (Asians, Hispanics, South Asians and Native Americans) in a manner similar to Blacks, our results provide a cross-national extension of the American literature. We also provide an extension across policy domains by examining whether racial cues affect other welfare state policy domains. Finally, we also consider the relative impact of three different measures of overt, modern, and implicit racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of work focused on the relationship between public opinion and public policy. Public preferences for policy are extraordinarily difficult to measure, however. In most domains, we are only able to capture relative preferences (for policy change); rarely are we able to directly examine absolute preferences for policy. We accordingly have only a very partial understanding of whether absolute preferences change over time, and, if so, what drives that change. We seek here to take a step towards estimating absolute preferences for policy, focusing on a particular domain-spending on welfare in the US-, and pooling data from the General Social Survey in different years to form a pseudo panel of individual-level preferences. In the absence of direct measures of the public's preferred levels of spending, we consider indirect attitudinal measures. These tell us something about differences in preferences across individuals, but they reveal almost nothing about change over time; indeed, responses to some extent (thermostatically) reflect spending, which means that they are not pure indicators of absolute preferences. We then consider proxies. Specifically, we examine the relationship between measures of relative preferences on the one hand and macroeconomic indicators and linear trend on the other, controlling for welfare spending itself, attitudes, and numerous other individual-level variables. Results indicate that absolute preferences for welfare spending do indeed change over time, and that while attitudinal measures tell us almost nothing about this change, macroeconomic conditions tell us quite a lot (i.e., welfare preferences are strongly pro-cyclical). The results help clarify what survey-based measures capture where public preferences for policy are concerned, and also make clear(er) the relationship between redistributive policy preferences and macroeconomic trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on the role of mass media in the representation of modern democracy. Media helps people in understanding about the works their representatives are doing and when they are doing right things. Mass media is also used at the time of elections for representation. It further discusses use of automated content analysis in computing election campaigning models.

This paper presents results from a content analytic study of evening news programs on energy and environmental news topics - 1,532 on NBC and 1,819 on CTV - from 1999 to 2009. The analysis reveals a focus on severe weather news in both countries, albeit with a somewhat greater focus on that topic in the US. There has been somewhat more extensive discussion of climate change in Canada, and the tone of that coverage has been more critical than comparable climate change coverage in the US. Granger causality tests reveal that coverage of climate change, pollution and related issues are strongly effected by - or, rather, dependent on - coverage of disasters and other weather events. In the concluding section, the paper discusses the implications of this strongly events-focused coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines homogeneity and heterogeneity in preferences for public policy, across income and education levels and party identification, and across policy domains in the US, UK and Canada. Do preferences differ across segments of the public at particular points in time? What about over time - do we observe a uniform swing across different groups (parallel publics), or does the flow of opinion differ across party, income, and education? Our data on public preferences for government spending show cross-sectional heterogeneity across sub-aggregates, but very high levels of over-time homogeneity in trends across subgroups. The structure of preference change across subgroups is fairly similar; most notably, thermostatic responsiveness to policy holds generally across the subgroups. This is especially true for broad domestic aggregates of opinion and policy. There still are some differences in feedback, particularly across education levels, as the highly educated are significantly more responsive to spending change over time. People with low and middling levels of education still do change their preferences for spending in response to what policymakers do, just to a lesser extent, at least in certain policy domains. This fits with the large and growing literature that demonstrates real differences owing to information levels. There also are significant differences across partisan subgroupings in various domains. The implications of these findings are considered in the concluding section. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines homogeneity and heterogeneity in preferences for public policy, across income and education levels, and party identification, and across policy domains in the US, UK and Canada. Do preferences differ across segments of the public at particular points in time? What about over time - do we observe a uniform swing across different groups (parallel publics), or does the flow of opinion differ across party, income, and education? Our data on public preferences for government spending show systematic cross-sectional differences across sub-aggregates, but a fair degree of homogeneity in trends over time. Some longitudinal heterogeneity does exist, however, and we exploit these differences in dynamic models of the effects of public preferences - across income levels - on government spending in the US and Canada. Results point to some interesting, seemingly important differences in the representation of income groups across policy domains and countries. Perhaps most importantly, in contrast with the existing literature, we find that policymakers do not consistently follow the preferences of wealthiest citizens. If anything, the preferences of the middle class matter most, though there are differences across policy domains. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines relationships between constituency characteristics and individual legislators' behavior in a parliamentary system, drawing on an exhaustive dataset of over 43,000 oral questions in the Canadian House of Commons (from 1983 to 2004), combined with data on constituency-level demographics and electoral outcomes. In doing so, it applies some of the theories developed in the US roll call voting literature to another country, and another policy venue (Question Period). Analyses use both demographics and voting as proxies for constituency policy preferences. Both approaches yield evidence of dyadic representation, an important finding given the party-focused tone of the existing Canadian literature. Models using electoral results also provide evidence that 'electoral pressure' increases MPs' representation of constituency preferences. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines capacity, as measured by the changing number of law clerks assisting the U.S. Supreme Court, and shows through time series analysis that these changes have had consequences on dissent rates above and beyond the effects of changing Chief Justices. It defines capacity to dissent as the ability of the Supreme Court to generate the relevant amount of dissenting output.

Argues that the dominant explanation of rising dissensus on the U.S. Supreme Court creates theoretical problems and is methodologically unsupported. Significance of strategic, bureaucratic institutionalist accounts in the explanation of separate writings; Comparison between the behavior of the Supreme Court and courts of other countries.

A large and growing body of research demonstrates a correspondence between public opinion and policy behavior. Almost all of this research has focused on the US, however. Do similar patterns obtain in other countries? Or is the US unique? This paper represents one step towards answering these questions. We extend previous research on the dynamics of spending preferences and budgetary policy in the US, using comparable longitudinal measures of public preferences and government spending in the US, UK, and Canada. The nature and magnitude of opinion-policy connections vary across both policy functions and countries. We explore this variance here, and suggest several possible explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work exploring the relationship between public opinion and public policy over time has largely been restricted to the US. A wider application of this line of research can provide valuable insights into how representation varies across political systems, however. This paper takes a first step in this direction using a new body of data on public opinion and government spending in the UK. The analyses reveal that the British public appears to notice and respond (thermostatically) to changes in public spending in particular domains, even more so than in the US. At the same time, the magnitude and structure of UK policymakers' response to public preferences is less pronounced and more general. The findings are suggestive about the structuring role of institutions on opinion representation across countries. Check author’s web site for an updated version of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which focused on the two-mediator model of electoral campaign effects. Operationalization of the reception mediator; Definition of campaign effects; Measurement of ambivalence during the electoral campaign.

A conference paper about national identity and welfare state is presented which is prepared for presentation at the American Political Science Association Conference, in Toronto, Ontario, on September 2-6, 2009. The paper discusses topics including increase in inequality found in a recent OECD study, the role of national identity in sustaining support for the welfare state in Canada, and nationalism.