Conference: The Relationship between Public Opinion and Inequality in the United States

In 2001 and 2003, the U.S. Congress passed two of the largest tax cuts in history. The total cost to the Treasury from 2001 through 2013 is projected at over $4.5 trillion—more than twice the federal government’s total annual budget. Despite the escalating national debt and the elimination of the federal budget surplus, this drastic shift in fiscal policy was broadly supported by ordinary Americans. Even though surveys in the early 2000s indicated the majority’s belief that the federal government should spend more on social programs, that the rich are asked to pay too little in taxes, and that economic inequality is a bad thing, Americans simultaneously supported policies whose main effects have been to reduce the tax burden of the rich, constrain funding for federal programs, and exacerbate growing inequality in the United States. While the attitudes of citizens have always influenced policy, we are only now beginning to understand how much diversity exists in public opinion, why some preferences are better represented than others, and what the consequences of heterogeneous public opinion are for political representation and inequality in the United States.

Political scientists Peter Enns (Cornell University) and Christopher Wlezien (Temple University) will organize a conference of public opinion experts to produce an edited volume. By bringing together a diverse group of scholars, they intend to examine new theories of the way public opinion is related to political representation. This award will allow the investigators to review and discuss the papers written for the eventual Russell Sage-published volume. The volume is divided into three sections. Part One examines the attitudes of different segments of the population toward government spending, equality, and terrorism. Part Two focuses on whether specific segments of the public are becoming polarized and the role of geography and campaign rhetoric in this polarization. Part Three analyzes the policy outcomes of representation and the variation in public opinion within the United States. Additional funding from Cornell University, Temple University, and the Canadian Opinion Research Archive will help cover the costs of the conference.