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BARBARA NORRANDER,
University of Arizona
Comment: Choosing Among Indicators of State Public Opinion
The lively debate between Berry, Ringquist, Fording, and Hanson (2007, hereafter
Berry et al.) and Brace, Arceneaux, Johnson, and Ulbig (2004, hereafter
Brace et al.) about the measurement of state public opinion is instructive
for scholars of many aspects of state politics and policy. Researchers
in need of such a measure now have a variety of choices, but as this debate
illustrates, these measures are not simply interchangeable nor can they
be used without a good deal of theoretical and methodological thought.
Each measure is linked to a different component of state public opinion
and each has its limitations. In addition, state policies, and changes
in state policies, may have different causal links to these measures depending
on policy type, kind of policy change, or environmental factors.
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