Previous research on British public perceptions of UK veterans has focused mainly on opinion polls and survey data. This is problematic, as the broader scope of public dialogue and discourse that ...informs and influences public perceptions of veterans remains largely unaddressed. To evaluate how the media frames British veterans, this study systematically assesses media discourse regarding veterans of the British Armed Forces. An inductively driven thematic content analysis of 335 newspaper articles indicates that the media frames veterans in predominantly heroic ways: veterans are heroized by their actions during deployment, the actions of their present lives, or the growth they have experienced from their status as victims. Representations of veterans in such victimized contexts include their suffering from the costs of war, from institutional injustices, from social callousness, and from their desperation for assistance from charitable organizations. We find that UK veterans are framed by the media in overly positive or negative terms and that factual information on them remains largely ignored. Such depictions may have negative consequences for veterans’ reintegration into civilian society.
It is widely believed that the recent recession has soured public attitudes towards immigration. But most existing studies are cross-sectional and can shed little light on the economy-wide forces ...that shift public opinion on immigration. In this paper I use the six rounds of the European Social Survey (2002-2012) to test the effects of macro-level shocks on immigration opinion for 20 countries. For Europe as a whole the shifts in opinion have been remarkably mild but with differences between countries that reflect the severity of the recession. Pro-immigration opinion is negatively related to the share of immigrants in the population and to the share of social benefits in GDP, but only weakly to unemployment. These effects are common across different socioeconomic groups and there is little evidence of divergence in opinion. The continuing rise in support for right wing populist parties during the recession owes more to growing Euro-scepticism than to a surge in anti-immigrant sentiment.
The current study examined the relationship between minority stress, social support, and the mental health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) Australians during the Australian Marriage Law Postal ...Survey.
A sample of 1,305 Australian LGB adults completed an online survey that measured their frequency of exposure to negative and positive media messages about same-sex marriage, perceived personal support, and psychological distress during the postal survey.
More frequent exposure to negative media messages about same-sex marriage was associated with greater psychological distress. This association, however, was significantly weaker amongst participants who perceived greater personal support for same-sex marriage from their immediate social network. Alternatively, exposure to positive messages of public support via public and social media was not associated with psychological distress, and did not moderate the association between negative media message exposure and psychological distress. Nonetheless, more frequent exposure to public support was more strongly associated with reduced psychological distress amongst participants who perceived their immediate social network to be less supportive of same-sex marriage.
The findings highlight how legislative processes related to the rights of stigmatised, minority populations have the potential to adversely affect their mental health. The findings also highlight the role of personal and public support as protective factors against minority stress. Within the limits of a cross-sectional study design, these findings have implications for public policy and legislative decision-making, treating clinicians of LGB clients, and LGB rights and mental health organisations.
Public opinion polls have become vital and increasingly visible parts of election campaigns. Previous research has frequently demonstrated that polls can influence both citizens' voting intentions ...and political parties' campaign strategies. However, they are also fraught with uncertainty. Margins of error can reflect (parts of) this uncertainty. This paper investigates how citizens' voting intentions change due to whether polling estimates are presented with or without margins of error.
Using a vignette experiment (N=3224), we examine this question based on a real‐world example in which different election polls were shown to nationally representative respondents ahead of the 2021 federal election in Germany. We manipulated the display of the margins of error, the interpretation of polls and the closeness of the electoral race.
The results indicate that margins of error can influence citizens' voting intentions. This effect is dependent on the actual closeness of the race and additional interpretative guidance provided to voters. More concretely, the results consistently show that margins of error increase citizens' inclination to vote for one of the two largest contesting parties if the polling gap between these parties is small, and an interpretation underlines this closeness.
The findings of this study are important for three reasons. First, they help to determine whether margins of error can assist citizens in making more informed (strategic) vote decisions. They shed light on whether depicting opinion‐poll uncertainty affects the key features of representative democracy, such as democratic accountability. Second, the results stress the responsibility of the media. The way polls are interpreted and contextualized influences the effect of margins of error on voting behaviour. Third, the findings of this paper underscore the significance of including methodological details when communicating scientific research findings to the broader public.
Televised election coverage is increasingly dominated by the horse race, a key element of which is poll coverage. How do news outlets decide which poll to air? We know little about the gatekeeping ...function of news outlets as it pertains to poll coverage, perhaps because this research is plagued by selection bias: By observing only reported polls and not unreported polls, researchers cannot definitively establish that any differences in representativeness are due to bias. Using a novel dataset that includes all prime-time presidential election poll coverage on Fox, MSNBC, CNN, and broadcast television networks during the 2008 election, we compare the universe of polls released each day to the polls actually covered by each news network. We find differences between the distribution of poll coverage and distribution of actual poll results. Our results suggest that both gatekeepers and reporters may have a hand in this distortion.
By most accounts, nationalism in China is on the rise, as seen in both patriotic displays and anti-foreign protests. This article disaggregates two types of nationalism: patriotism and victimization ...derived from the 'century of humiliations'. An original, nationwide public opinion survey of urban China shows that these two types of nationalism are derived from similar attributes and attitudes (causes) but have dissimilar impacts on views toward foreign countries (effects). In order to understand properly the causes of rising nationalism in China and its possible implications, observers must begin with the recognition that patriotism and anti-foreign sentiments are not simply two sides of the same coin, but two separate and distinct types of nationalism.
Generating a nationally representative sample in low and middle income countries typically requires resource-intensive household level sampling with door-to-door data collection. High mobile phone ...penetration rates in developing countries provide new opportunities for alternative sampling and data collection methods, but there is limited information about response rates and sample biases in coverage and nonresponse using these methods. We utilized data from an interactive voice response, random-digit dial, national mobile phone survey in Ghana to calculate standardized response rates and assess representativeness of the obtained sample.
The survey methodology was piloted in two rounds of data collection. The final survey included 18 demographic, media exposure, and health behavior questions. Call outcomes and response rates were calculated according to the American Association of Public Opinion Research guidelines. Sample characteristics, productivity, and costs per interview were calculated. Representativeness was assessed by comparing data to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and the National Population and Housing Census.
The survey was fielded during a 27-day period in February-March 2017. There were 9,469 completed interviews and 3,547 partial interviews. Response, cooperation, refusal, and contact rates were 31%, 81%, 7%, and 39% respectively. Twenty-three calls were dialed to produce an eligible contact: nonresponse was substantial due to the automated calling system and dialing of many unassigned or non-working numbers. Younger, urban, better educated, and male respondents were overrepresented in the sample.
The innovative mobile phone data collection methodology yielded a large sample in a relatively short period. Response rates were comparable to other surveys, although substantial coverage bias resulted from fewer women, rural, and older residents completing the mobile phone survey in comparison to household surveys. Random digit dialing of mobile phones offers promise for future data collection in Ghana and may be suitable for other developing countries.
Due to insufficient sample sizes in national surveys, strikingly little is known about public opinion at the level of Congressional and state legislative districts in the United States. As a result, ...there has been virtually no study of whether legislators accurately represent the will of their constituents on individual issues. This article solves this problem by developing a multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP) model that combines survey and census data to estimate public opinion at the district level. We show that MRP estimates are excellent predictors of public opinion and referenda results for both congressional and state senate districts. Moreover, they have less error, higher correlations, and lower variance than either disaggregated survey estimates or presidential vote shares. The MRP approach provides American and Comparative Politics scholars with a valuable new tool to measure issue-specific public opinion at low levels of geographic aggregation.
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