PA Brown Bag Series: Aaron Deslatte (NIU)
September 7, 2018
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
PA Brown Bag Series:
Aaron Deslatte - Northern Illinois University
Sept 7th @ Noon-1pm
Location:2102 AEH
Motivated Reasoning and Government Environmental Performance: A Survey Experiment of the Role of Citizen Ideology in Support for Local Sustainability Initiatives
While the United States government has backed away from its leadership role in solving global environmental problems, subnational governments have become increasingly critical players in combating climate change, ecosystem decline, and urban sprawl. Mayors from more than 600 U.S. cities have pledged to support the 2015 Paris climate change accord, and local governments have been increasingly active in a broad range of sustainability efforts during the last two decades. U.S. surveys have consistently shown a partisan divide among citizen perceptions over the causes and consequences of anthropogenic climate change, but support for climate protection actions at the city level has been considered less ideologically based since land-use, transportation, energy and infrastructure activities produce local co-benefits. We know little about the role that citizen ideology plays in assessing local government performance on sustainability goals, which can encompass economic, ecological and social equity objectives. Public administration researchers have found ideological beliefs are important to how citizens perceive government performance, and that performance information may be systematically misinterpreted based on prior beliefs. Utilizing an online survey experimental design, this study explores whether partisan ideology moderates cues about local government performance in delivering economic, environmental and social benefits to citizens through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Combining previous findings with a new experimental design, this study examines whether provision of performance information on local government implementation of federally initiated sustainability efforts ameliorates the partisan motivated reasoning of citizens. Contrary to expectations, the study finds evidence of attitude-strengthening in the face of disconfirming performance as well as suggesting partisan cues may help citizens calibrate their evaluations.
Date posted
Jul 11, 2018
Date updated
Aug 28, 2018