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Opinion Leader or Agenda Setter? The Influence of US Supreme Court Cases and Partisan Elite Cues on Public Opinion
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Unger SPSA 2009
1
Opinion Leader or Agenda Setter? The Influence of US Supreme Court Cases and Partisan
Elite Cues on Public Opinion
Michael A. Unger
Assistant Professor of Political Science
School of American and International Studies
Ramapo College of New Jersey
## email not listed ##
Prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association,
January 8 – 10, 2009
Abstract
Whether political institutions lead or follow public opinion is at the core of American democracy. A growing body of literature demonstrates that Court decisions influence public opinion, but some important questions remain about this relationship. Given that the public receives cues from the Court and party elites when learning about cases through the media, it is difficult to disentangle the potential effects of the two different sets of elite cues. The inability to isolate the Court’s cues from those of other political elites leaves an important puzzle: is the Court better thought of an opinion leader or agenda setter? To gain leverage on this puzzle, I conducted an original experiment using a nationally representative consumer online sample, which is funded by a research grant from Ramapo College. The results of this study indicate that the Supreme Court was not an opinion leader on the issues associated with Gonzales v. Carhart or Winter v. National Resources Defense Council, Inc. The Court appears to be more of an agenda setter than opinion leader regarding Gonzales while there was little effect regarding Winter. Please do not cite without permission from the author.
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Unger SPSA 2009
1
Opinion Leader or Agenda Setter? The Influence of US Supreme Court Cases and Partisan
Elite Cues on Public Opinion
Michael A. Unger
Assistant Professor of Political Science
School of American and International Studies
Ramapo College of New Jersey
## email not listed ##
Prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association,
January 8 – 10, 2009
Abstract
Whether political institutions lead or follow public opinion is at the core of American
democracy. A growing body of literature demonstrates that Court decisions influence public
opinion, but some important questions remain about this relationship. Given that the public
receives cues from the Court and party elites when learning about cases through the media, it
is difficult to disentangle the potential effects of the two different sets of elite cues. The
inability to isolate the Court’s cues from those of other political elites leaves an important
puzzle: is the Court better thought of an opinion leader or agenda setter? To gain leverage
on this puzzle, I conducted an original experiment using a nationally representative
consumer online sample, which is funded by a research grant from Ramapo College. The
results of this study indicate that the Supreme Court was not an opinion leader on the issues
associated with Gonzales v. Carhart or Winter v. National Resources Defense Council, Inc. The Court
appears to be more of an agenda setter than opinion leader regarding Gonzales while there
was little effect regarding Winter.
Please do not cite without permission from the author.
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