Inequality and Public Opinion on Defense Spending in the United States

• In Event: Poster Session: Public Policy Preferences and Attitudes toward Democracy & European Politics and Society
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Public Policy Preferences and Attitudes toward Democracy

Abstract

In the literature, multiple factors affecting public opinion on defense expenditures have been discussed, including gender, political ideology, and conscription, to name but a few. A widely researched causal relationship concerns the impact of military spending on inequality in a society; this impact appears to be both positive and negative. In this paper, we argue that increasing inequality should impact public opinion regarding military spending in the United States (U.S.). Using the so-called ‘guns vs. butter trade-off’ argument, we believe that, as inequality widens, the public may view social spending as too small and military spending as too large. In response, the public should be less favorable to defense expenditures. Considering the negative impact on public support for military spending engendered by widening inequality, we hypothesize that in a given U.S. state with greater inequality, public support for military spending should be less than that of other states. An empirical test of inequality’s effect with respect to military spending since the 1980s employing public opinion data confirms our theory: widening inequality engenders a negative impact on public support for defense expenditure.

Author

• Hakseon Lee, James Madison University