Americans' Attitudes Toward Federalism

Area of Science:

• Political Science
• Public Opinion Research
• American Politics

Background:

• Political debates frequently center on federalism, the division of governmental authority across different levels.
• Limited empirical evidence exists on the structure and nature of American preferences for decentralization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new survey-based measure for characterizing attitudes toward subnational power.
• To analyze the distribution and determinants of preferences for decentralization in the United States.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel survey instrument to assess attitudes toward subnational power.
• Evaluation of the instrument using a national sample of over 2000 American adults.

Main Results:

• Preferences for devolution exhibit significant variation across and within states.
• Individual ideological orientations and evaluations of government performance are key correlates of these preferences.
• Attitudes toward institutional arrangements are primarily driven by fundamental preferences for the distribution of state authority.

Conclusions:

• The developed survey instrument reliably measures preferences for federalism.
• Attitudes toward decentralization are rooted in core beliefs about governmental authority distribution rather than solely short-term political interests.