BY: J. ERIC OLIVER
Princeton University
Woodrow Wilson School
TAEKU LEE
Harvard University
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Document: Available from the SSRN Electronic Paper Collection:
http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=313824
Paper ID: KSG Working Paper No. RWP02-017
Date: May 2002
Contact: TAEKU LEE
Email: Mailto:taeku_lee at ksg.harvard.edu
Postal: Harvard University
John F. Kennedy School of Government
79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138 UNITED STATES
Phone: 617-495-0503
Co-Auth: J. ERIC OLIVER
Email: Mailto:eoliver at Princeton.EDU
Postal: Princeton University
Woodrow Wilson School
Princeton, NJ 08544-1021 UNITED STATES
Paper Requests:
Contact Raquel Schott, Mailto:Raquel_Schott at ksg.harvard.edu
Postal: JFK School of Government, Harvard University, 79 John F.
Kennedy St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone:(617)495-5444.
Fax:(617)496-0001.
ABSTRACT:
Recently, health policy experts have sounded the warning about
the severe health and economic consequences of America's growing
obesity epidemic. Despite this fact, obesity has not yet entered
America's political consciousness and we have little information
about what average Americans think of obesity or whether they
support obesity related policies. The nascence of the obesity
epidemic presents an interesting opportunity to examine public
opinion at the beginning of an issue's evolution. Using unique
survey data collected by the authors, this paper presents the
first examination of public attitudes towards obesity and
obesity policy. We find that, contrary to the views of health
experts, most Americans are not seriously concerned with
obesity, express relatively low support for obesity-targeted
policies, and still view obesity as resulting from individual
failure rather than environmental or genetic sources. Given the
absence of elite discourse on this problem, we also find that
typical determinants of policy preferences, such as ideology or
partisanship, are not good predictors of attitudes on obesity
policy. Rather, with a low valence issue like obesity, the
public relies on prior awareness, policy heuristics, and causal
explanations to inform their opinions. The implications of these
findings for obesity policy and research on public opinion are
discussed.
Keywords: Political Science, Press and Public Policy,
Welfare/Health Care/Social Policy