Media Use, Political Networks, & the Economy: Public Attitudes toward Inflation

• In Event: Information and Attitudes towards Trade

Abstract

We seek to understand how individuals’ media consumption and political talking partners affect their attitudes toward inflation, along with attitudes toward unemployment, the state of the US economy, and presidential approval. Using data from a nationally representative survey of 2000 US residents, administered through YouGov in August 2022, we explore whether individuals’ media consumption habits and political talking partners shape these attitudes. We then analyze the results of two experimental treatments embedded within the August 2022 survey designed to explore how citizens form their opinions about inflation (as well as unemployment, the state of the US economy, and presidential approval) given varying information and global context about inflation, the state of the US economy, and US policy responses to the pandemic economic crisis. Our initial results suggest that media consumption and framing effects strongly shape public attitudes toward inflation in the US in 2022.

Authors

• Mark Copelovitch, University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Michael W. Wagner, University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Mark Copelovitch, University of Wisconsin, Madison