Political Awareness and Public Opinion on Health Care Reform

Political Science literature shows that the two major political parties have continued to polarize over time in the United States. Parties and elites continue to shape, frame and even manipulate public opinion, especially on contentious policy issues such as health care reform. Political information from elite discourse is often partisan in nature, which shapes citizens’ attitudes toward policy issues. Citizens who are politically aware process political information differently compared to those who are not politically aware. Political ideology, political partisanship and political awareness all affect mass public opinion on health care policy and the role of government versus the private sector provision of health care services. This dissertation examines the characteristics of those who are most affected by the partisan discourse on health care reform, especially provision of health care insurance. It is expected that citizens who are self-identified Republicans and politically conservative individuals will express greater opposition towards the government health insurance plan, and self-identified Democrats and politically liberal individuals will express greater opposition to a private health insurance plan and support for a government health care plan.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Public Policy

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Kanojia, Anjali H. 1978-

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Clark, Jennifer H.
• Granato, Jim

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Simas, Elizabeth N.
• Schafer, James A., Jr.

• Health Care Reform
• Public opinion

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10657/2710

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/2710