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Symbolism Versus Policy Learning

Public Opinion of the 1996 U.S. Welfare Reforms

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

Monika L. McDermott

University of Connecticut, Storrs

Mingus Mapps

Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

The logic of democracy rests on the assumption that policymakers respond to public preferences, which, in turn, respond to policy developments. We address the question of how policy might affect public opinion by analyzing public opinion before and after the 1996 U.S. Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. We hypothesized that changes made by the legislation would have improved opinions of welfare recipients. Using U.S. surveys from 1994 and 2001, we find that public opinion was more positive postreform and that the change was because of the enactment of welfare reform itself, not any perceived program success.

Key Words: public opinion • public policy • welfare policy • welfare reform • symbolic politics • political learning

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