Abstract
An important stylized fact about American government is that many societal problems persist despite expert recognition that better outcomes are technically feasible. What explains the weakness of the political demand for more effective public policies? This study investigates one factor that may contribute to the attenuated demand for policy improvements: namely, the belief among many affluent citizens that they are personally insulated from societal problems. Drawing on a national public opinion survey, we show that affluent Americans believe their resources and ability to activate powerful social networks affords them a measure of personal insulation from key problems in areas such as education, healthcare and neighborhood safety. We also find that the affluent express a more optimistic view than other respondents of the average citizen’s financial situation and capacity to manage problems in several domains. Taken together, our results have important implications for understanding how highly influential Americans think about public policy in an era of inequality.
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© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- The Forum: Spring 2024 Issue
- Articles
- Affluence and the Demand-side for Policy Improvements: Exploring Elite Beliefs About Vulnerability to Societal Problems
- The Post-Brown Era in Judicial Policymaking
- Blame, Policy Feedback, and the Politics of Student Debt Relief Policy
- The Nationalized Politics of Police Reform
- Inside the “Administrative State”: The Enigmatic Office for Civil Rights
- How Ideological Diversity Moderates Republican Support for Voter Suppression Measures: The Cases of Georgia and Alabama
- Ten Years Later: How Water Crises in Flint and Detroit Transformed the Politics of U.S. Water Policy
- Climate Change Policy Development: A Multiple Streams Analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
- Book Review
- Steven Rogers: Accountability in State Legislatures
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- The Forum: Spring 2024 Issue
- Articles
- Affluence and the Demand-side for Policy Improvements: Exploring Elite Beliefs About Vulnerability to Societal Problems
- The Post-Brown Era in Judicial Policymaking
- Blame, Policy Feedback, and the Politics of Student Debt Relief Policy
- The Nationalized Politics of Police Reform
- Inside the “Administrative State”: The Enigmatic Office for Civil Rights
- How Ideological Diversity Moderates Republican Support for Voter Suppression Measures: The Cases of Georgia and Alabama
- Ten Years Later: How Water Crises in Flint and Detroit Transformed the Politics of U.S. Water Policy
- Climate Change Policy Development: A Multiple Streams Analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
- Book Review
- Steven Rogers: Accountability in State Legislatures