Who Says? A Survey Experiment to Understand Citizen Support for Gun Policy and Practice in America

In US, policymakers, advocates, and opponents use the public arena to communicate policy to various constituents including voters. In doing so, each frames their communications according to their audience. This often centers a conversation around a desired outcome. Despite our knowing that framing exists, we know little about how frames operate in the policy process. We conducted a survey experiment to improve our understanding of “if” and “how” presenting gun policy from a known trusted messenger; a permissive gun advocacy group such as the NRA; a government agency like the CDC; or as “common sense” impacts a person’s policy support. We will also seek to understand whether or not the effect varies by issue salience (e.g., in this case, how important gun access or gun control is to the focal person). We find messaging can affect a person’s agreement of firearm policy support, but often in nuanced ways.

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https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0oIwKpLBwdIHB6C