210 Chapter 6Chapter 6 || Public OpinionPublic OpinionHow Considerations Interact Considerations can also interact with each other in
the opinion-formation process. One of the most common and important interactions is
the impact of partisanship, which acts as a kind of filter that shapes how people assess
other events and information. For example, judgments about presidential performance,
as well as perceptions of the economy, are often influenced by an individual’s party
affiliation. That is, if you share the president’s party affiliation, you are more likely to
think that economic conditions are good and (assuming your judgments about the
economy are constant) more likely to approve of the president’s performance.
Opinions are often influenced by considerations that compete or contradict. In the case
of abortion laws, many people believe in protecting human life but also in allowing women
to make their own medical decisions.^29 When a survey asks people who hold both beliefs
for their opinion about abortion laws, their response will depend on which consideration
comes to mind and seems most relevant when they are answering the question.
When considerations compete, opinions can change rapidly for seemingly
unrelated reasons. Consider Figure 6.3, which charts respondents’ evaluations of the
U.S. military campaign against ISIL. In 2014 through 2016, the percentage of people
who said the campaign was going well or fairly well was reasonably constant, with the
percentage of Democrats giving a favorable response higher than the percentage of
Republicans. However, the Republican percentage sharply increased from October
2016 (when it was just 20 percent) to October 2017 (when it hit 67 percent), while
the Democratic percentage changed only modestly. In part, these shifts in opinion
reflected victories by the U.S-aided coalition against ISIL. However, the differences
between Republicans and Democrats highlight the impact of partisanship on opinions
and the impact of the change from Democratic president Barack Obama to Republican
president Donald Trump. Republicans became significantly more optimistic not
because of facts on the ground in Syria but because a member of their party was now theEvaluations of the
Campaign against
ISIL before and
after Trump’s
ElectionFIGURE
6.3The figure shows how Republican
evaluations of the campaign against
ISIL changed after Donald Trump
became president. What would have
to happen to shift Republican opinions
back to the levels seen during the
Obama presidency?Source: Pew Research Center, “Partisans
Have Starkly Different Opinions about
How the World Views the U.S.,” November
9, 2017, http://www.people-press.org
(accessed 11/9/17).50
67
20
27 30
22
(^2827)
42
43 45
37
44
40
Oct. 2014 July 2015 Oct. 2016Evaluations of the campaign against ISIL before and after Trump’s election
% who say it is going fairly wellOct. 2017Rep/Lean RepDem/Lean DemFull_07_APT_64431_ch06_198-231.indd 210 16/11/18 1:38 PM