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What Moves Policy Sentiment?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Robert H. Durr
Robert H. Durr
Affiliation:
Washington University, St. Louis
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Abstract

In spite of the fact that political eras in the United States are widely (and often ambiguously) defined in terms of a general policy sentiment or mood, political scientists have done little in the way of rigorous analysis regarding this subject. I argue that shifts in domestic policy sentiment along a liberal–conservative continuum may be understood in part as responses to changing economic expectations. Specifically, expectations of a strong economy result in greater support for liberal domestic policies, whereas anticipation of declining economic conditions pushes the national policy mood to the right. Using quarterly data for the period 1968–88, I present a multiple-time-series error correction model that lends considerable support to the hypothesis.

Type
Research Notes
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 87 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 158 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1993

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