The Influence of Civil Liberties and National Security Trade-Offs on Policy Preferences.

This paper addresses two important questions about the nature of psychological value trade-offs. First, I examine the impact of perceptions of threat on the American public?s support of civil liberties. Unlike other studies, I explore support for civil liberties both as abstract principles and in the context of national security. Second, this study analyzes the role of trade-offs between civil liberties and national security in shaping public policy preferences. To examine these issues empirically, I use data from two national public opinion surveys conducted in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attack. I find that, while perceptions of national and personal threat were associated with an increased willingness to trade off civil liberties for greater national security, they had no impact on abstract notions of civil liberties. Moreover, perceptions of threat were weak predictors of the public?s preferences for increased defense spending, anti-terrorism packages, and more restrictive immigration policies. Once a trade-off between values of civil liberties and national security was introduced, the impact of perceptions of threat was channeled through these values. The implications of these findings on the study of value trade-offs in public opinion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]