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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: jmconnolly@miami.edu
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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

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Connolly et al. dataset

Dataset

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