Money Well Spent? Partisan Reasoning and Polarized Support for Higher Education

• In Event: Issues in Higher Education

Abstract

We conduct three experiments to study the causes and consequences of polarized demand for public spending on higher education. In the first survey experiment we find that information reduces cross-party gaps in ideal policies by up to 32% and polarized communication with officials by 23%. We identify partisan differences in information processing as a key mechanism in the second experiment. Finally, by sending these letters to elected officials in a natural field experiment, we find that receiving constituent demand increases policymakers' engagement on higher education issues. Our findings highlight how polarization may stem from diverging perceptions---not solely heterogeneous tastes.

Authors

• Andrew Simon, University of Virginia

• Michael Ricks, mricks4@unl.edu