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Who's Ambivalent and Who's Not? Social Welfare Ambivalence Across Ideology

University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky

This study uses a fresh approach to measure social welfare ambivalence, addressing the question of who is more ambivalent about such policies— liberals or conservatives. The findings presented here challenge previous assertions that liberals are typically more ambivalent. I argue that conservatives are now more ambivalent than liberals because a change in the tone of elite discourse altered the priming of the potential sources of such ambivalence. The models of ambivalence presented suggest that these primed sources are conflicting thoughts or beliefs (cognitive conflict), conflicting feelings (affective conflict), or beliefs in conflict with feelings (cognitive—affective conflict). The implications of these findings are discussed.

Key Words: welfare policy • public opinion • social cognition • political ideology • affect • attitude ambivalence

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