Factors Influencing Perceptions of Government Legitimacy

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

Recently, criminologists have argued it is important for the public to view the government as legitimate so individuals will comply with the law. As previous research shows support for certain factors influencing perceptions of legitimacy, further assessment of how race, news source, and voting influence perceptions are explored here using new data. Many potential confounding variables are also controlled for as the previous literature indicates past studies have neglected to do so. Hypotheses include minorities, those who do not or are ineligible to vote, and individuals who obtain their news from the television are associated with perceiving the government as illegitimate. To investigate the factors shaping individual beliefs regarding legitimacy, data from the General Social Survey (GSS) are used. Chi square cross tabulations and ordinary least squares regression are used to analyze the relationships between the variables. Consistent with previous research, race and political views are statistically significant in their association with government legitimacy, as being Black and liberal are associated with government illegitimacy. Inconsistent with previous research, females and having a higher educational degree are associated with government illegitimacy. No relationships are found between news source and voting for government legitimacy.

Author

• Morgan McGuirk, University of Missouri - St. Louis