TY - JOUR
T1 - Partisan responses to public health messages
T2 - Motivated reasoning and sugary drink taxes
AU - Gollust, Sarah E.
AU - Barry, Colleen L.
AU - Niederdeppe, Jeff
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by Duke University Press.
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - This study examines the public's motivated reasoning of competitive messages about sugary drink taxes, a public health policy approach attempted with some recent success in the United States. In an experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey fielded in the fall of 2012, we randomized participants (N= 5,147) to receive one of four messages: control, a strong protax message, a two-sided message, or a message refuting arguments made in soda company antitax messages. The protax message showed no effects on tax support, while the two-sided message depressed Republicans' support. The refutation message boosted independents' support but produced backlash among Republicans. This motivated response was pronounced among Republicans who were plausibly previously exposed to the sugary drink tax debate. These findings reinforce the communication challenges in an increasingly politicized US health policy discourse.
AB - This study examines the public's motivated reasoning of competitive messages about sugary drink taxes, a public health policy approach attempted with some recent success in the United States. In an experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey fielded in the fall of 2012, we randomized participants (N= 5,147) to receive one of four messages: control, a strong protax message, a two-sided message, or a message refuting arguments made in soda company antitax messages. The protax message showed no effects on tax support, while the two-sided message depressed Republicans' support. The refutation message boosted independents' support but produced backlash among Republicans. This motivated response was pronounced among Republicans who were plausibly previously exposed to the sugary drink tax debate. These findings reinforce the communication challenges in an increasingly politicized US health policy discourse.
KW - Health communication
KW - Health politics
KW - Motivated reasoning
KW - Public opinion
KW - Sugar-sweetened-beverage tax
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U2 - 10.1215/03616878-4193606
DO - 10.1215/03616878-4193606
M3 - Article
C2 - 28801464
AN - SCOPUS:85032820440
SN - 0361-6878
VL - 42
SP - 1005
EP - 1037
JO - Journal of health politics, policy and law
JF - Journal of health politics, policy and law
IS - 6
ER -