A research study published in the latest issue of Public Administration Review analyzes Americans’ preferences for making policy at the national versus the subnational level.

Relying on a Pew Research Center survey question posed in multiple recent years, the authors investigated the extent to which partisanship and ideology are related to support for decentralization. As expected (given Republicans’ traditional support for states’ right and more limited government), Republicans and conservatives are more supportive of decentralization, whereas Democrats and liberals are less supportive.

However, Republicans and Democrats respond asymmetrically to changes in party control of the federal government. Republicans’ support for decentralization is relatively unaffected by changes in party control, whereas Democrats’ support for decentralization increases when Republicans control the federal government.

These results indicate that federalism‐based appeals in American politics tap into stable views about allocation of policy authority on the part of a subset of the electorate and in ways that can influence public officials’ support for decentralization.

Access the full article:

Dinan, John, and Jac C. Heckelman. 2020. Stability and Contingency in Federalism Preferences. Public Administration Review. Volume 80, Issue 2, March/April 2020, Pages 234-243