Staci Rhine

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In search of European citizens: A policy preference based approach

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In search of European citizens: A policy preference based approach

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U.S. Public Attitudes Toward the Afghanistan War

PsycEXTRA Dataset

Registration reform and its relationship to turnout in the American states

Americans' Reports of How Much They Enjoy Keeping Up with the News, February, 1994 - April-May, 2006

After 9/11: Television Viewers, Newspaper Readers and Public Opinion about Terrorism's Consequences

We are interested in whether the actions of Al Qaeda on September 11 and subsequent actions by U.... more We are interested in whether the actions of Al Qaeda on September 11 and subsequent actions by U.S. authorities seem to have any connection to levels of support for government and attitudes about civil liberties, when filtered through TV and newspaper coverage. We compare the reactions of those who get their news primarily from television with those who get their news primarily from newspapers. Users of both mediums demonstrated high levels of support for government actions and figures. However, television viewers were more supportive than newspaper readers. Newspaper readers initially expressed greater concern over potential government threats to civil liberties, but these differences had essentially disappeared by the end of 2001. The conclusion considers whether media differences may re-emerge as a "rally effect" wanes.

Young Americans' Attention to Media Accounts of Politics

Changing policies but keeping voters? British parties, the British public and the EU

The paper examines the connections between changes in party positions and changes in views of the... more The paper examines the connections between changes in party positions and changes in views of the EU within the British electorate since 1983. We explore whether voters take their cues from party elites or form their opinions independently form party identification. Our findings are only suggestive. But we find evidence for both forms of opinion identification. The 1980s witnessed a sharp increase in support for closer EU ties among Labour supporters following such a shift among the leadership. We see similar, although less dramatic, changes among Conservatives in the 1990s. As the Conservative leadership became more skeptical of EU membership, a similar shift is noted among the supporters. Yet we also find new supporters of the Labour Party who had warmer attitudes toward the EC before they became the Labour identifiers in the 1990s. Thus our results are mixed, but we find more evidence for elite persuasion.

U.S. Attitudes toward the Iraq War

An analysis of the impact of registration factors on turnout in 1992

Political Behavior, 1996

In 1993 Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the National Voter Registration Act... more In 1993 Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The law contained provisions for uniform mail registration, changes in purge procedures, and changes in some forms of agency registration including motor-voter registration. Using the 1992 National Election Study, I estimate the impact of several of these changes in addition to same-day registration. Same-day registration and motor-voter registration both show strong, positive relationships to turnout, while the results are mixed for mail registration and changed purge procedures. 171 0190-9320/96/0600-0171509.50/0 9 1996 Plenum Publishing Corporation Demographic Variables Age (variable 3903): in years Education (variable 3905): single years of education completed Race (variable 4202): 1 = white, 0 = nonwhite Residency (variable 4134): years in current residence Psychological Variables Attention to the Campaign (variable 3101): 3 = very much interested, 2 = somewhat, 1 = not much Partisan Intensity (variable 3634): 1 = Independents and Independent leaners, 2 = weak Democrats and Republicans, 3 = strong Democrats and Republicans Civic Values (variable 6101): 5 = disagree strongly that shouldn't vote if don't care about outcome, 4 = disagree somewhat, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 2 = agree somewhat, 1 = agree strongly Contacted by Party (variable 5801): 1 = yes, 0 = no Public Officials Don't Care Much What People Like Me Think (variable 6103

format_quoteRegions with motor-voter registration programs saw a turnout increase of 6 percentage points compared to those without.format_quote

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The Things They Cared About: Change and Continuity in Americans’ Attention to Different News Stories, 1989–2002

The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 2004

Pew Research Center polls in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002 show that Americans pay more attent... more Pew Research Center polls in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002 show that Americans pay more attention to media accounts of nonpolitical stories than those about national, international, and local politics. Although Americans’ attentiveness to political news rose between 2000 and 2002, attention to media accounts of politics remained below where it had been in 1989. For the most part, the relative rankings of attentiveness to different kinds of news stories remained the same. The authors also explore the factors that predict attention to political news.Finally,heed paid to media stories about politics appears to affect two important facets of democratic citizenship: political knowledge and participation.

American Public Opinion and the Civil War in Bosnia: Attention, Knowledge, and the Media

The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 1997

The Bosnian civil war offers an opportunity to examine the American public&amp;amp;#39;s atti... more The Bosnian civil war offers an opportunity to examine the American public&amp;amp;#39;s attitudes toward foreign policy problems in the post-cold war era. We use polls conducted for the Times Mirror/Pew Research Center for the People and the Press from 1992 to 1996 and indicators of media coverage of Bosnia to analyze trends in public attention to and knowledge of the

Television “News Grazers”: Who They Are and What They (Don’T) Know

Critical Review, 2008

ABSTRACT Between 1998 and 2006, a new style of television news consumption was born: “news grazin... more ABSTRACT Between 1998 and 2006, a new style of television news consumption was born: “news grazing.” With remote control devices in hand, “grazers” flip through TV news channels in order to find interesting news stories. Approximately three‐fifths of the public graze, and this group tends to be younger than non‐grazers. Grazers are less likely than the rest of the public to follow “hard” news about politics and economics, and, not surprisingly, they are even less knowledgeable about public affairs than most people are.

Attack politics in presidential nomination campaigns: An examination of the frequency and determinants of intermediated negative messages against opponents

Political Research Quarterly, 1998

This article explores the negative campaign messages made by presi-dential nomination candidates ... more

Assessing Americans' opinions about the news media's fairness in 1996 and 1998

Political Communication, 2001

... Staci L. Rhine is Associate Professor of Political Science, and Richard S. Flickinger is Prof... more

Citizens' knowledge of foreign affairs

… Journal of Press/ …, 1996

Although scholars have long known that most Americans are woefully ignorant of foreign affairs (A... more Although scholars have long known that most Americans are woefully ignorant of foreign affairs (Almond 1960; Kriesberg 1949), they are uncertain about how the U.S. public&amp;amp;#39;s knowledge of international politics compares to that of people in other countries. We address this uncertainty with a study of citizens&amp;amp;#39; knowledge of foreign affairs in five western democracies: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. The focus is on the roles each country&amp;amp;#39;s mass media play in the process by which citizens learn about international politics. The study found that Germans are the most knowledgeable about international politics, citizens in Britain, Canada, and France displayed moderate knowledge, and Americans had the least knowledge. We conclude that people learn about foreign affairs due to their opportunity, defined by their location in the social structure, and their motivation, indexed by attention paid to news accounts of world politics. The better educated and more politically attentive citizens also proved to be more informed in each country, whereas citizens who most often watched popular television entertainment programs proved to be less informed about foreign affairs.

Gaps in Americans' Knowledge About the Bosnian Civil War

American Politics Research, 2001

This study applies the knowledge gap theory to the American public's knowledge of the Bosnian... more This study applies the knowledge gap theory to the American public's knowledge of the Bosnian civil war between September 1992—when the conflict was in its early days—through June 1995. Our goal was to determine if a knowledge gap existed in the case of the Bosnian civil war, and if so, whether it increased or decreased over time. Times Mirror Center polls clearly establish that the better educated knew more about Bosnia from September 1992 through June 1995. But people from all educational levels showed dramatic improvements in knowledge. The so-called knowledge gap declined rather than increased. Our surprising results may be due to the changing context and duration of the conflict. Attention to the Bosnia crisis increased over these 3 years, with people from all backgrounds more motivated to pay attention. In addition, the nightly network news provided frequent coverage of Bosnia. Thus, all segments of the American public learned more about the crisis.

Registration Reform and Turnout Change in the American States

American Politics Research, 1995

Political talk over here, over there, over time

British Journal of …, 2000

Data from Great Britain and the United States from the late 1950s to the early 1990s show relativ... more

Video Malaise" Revisited: Public Trust in the Media and Government

The International Journal of Press/Politics, 1999

This article explores the "video-malaise" thesis, which asserts that a combination of n... more This article explores the "video-malaise" thesis, which asserts that a combination of negative political coverage by the press and exposure to the media lead to political cynicism at the grass roots. Data from the 1996 National Election Study and a 1997 Pew Research Center poll show that the traditional video-malaise notion needs to be revised. Jaundiced views of government and of the media co-vary, raising the possibility that the public views both government and the media in the same vein.

Staci Rhine

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