Abstract
Much of the literature on political support is of little use to policy makers or those attempting to understand ordinary politics, because the concepts guiding research have focused attention on extreme cases of little relevance. If we are to interpret political support in terms of regime stability, then it is seldom at issue in advanced democratic societies; but if it indicates only approval for authorities, then direct measures of popularity do the job better. This paper works toward an empirical conceptualization of political support intermediate along that continuum by investigating the relationship between support orientations and the public's evaluation of governmental policy performance. Empirical hypotheses are drawn from an elaboration of the policy-relevant aspects of political support, and of the support-relevant aspects of policy evaluations. These hypotheses are tested against the American public's responses to the government's management of the economy, and they reveal several patterns useful to interpreting changes in the level of political support.
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Weatherford, M.S. How does government performance influence political support?. Polit Behav 9, 5–28 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987276
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987276