Dr. Xinsheng Liu, ISTPP Senior Research Scholar and Research Scientist, and Dr. Youlang Zhang, ISTPP Research Fellow and Professor at Renmin University of China, have published “How Does a Focusing Event Shape Public Opinion? Natural Experimental Evidence from the Orlando Mass Shooting,” in the Policy Studies Journal.
The authors reconceptualize the multiple layers of public opinion and formulate testable hypotheses to investigate the causal effects of a major focusing event—the 2016 Orlando nightclub mass shooting—on public opinion. Using survey data collected immediately pre- and post-Orlando shooting, the authors find that this event significantly heightened public attention to terror-related issues, particularly armed terror attacks on civilians, and enhanced public support for augmented government counterterrorism spending. However, the event did not significantly alter public attention or support for government spending on other terror-related acts less relevant to the Orlando shooting. More importantly, the event did not change individuals’ policy preferences regarding specific policy proposals to address mass shootings. This study enriches public policy and public opinion research and provides fresh insights into the relationship between focusing events and public agenda setting. A short version of the article is available at this blog site of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Zhang, Youlang and Xinsheng Liu. 2024. “How does a focusing event shape public opinion? Natural experimental evidence from the Orlando mass shooting,” Policy Studies Journal, 1-27.
