UCLA

This dissertation comprises three papers that investigate the conditions under which individuals learn about and respond to the world around them. Chapter 1 draws on nearly 500,000 survey responses collected between July 2019 and January 2021 to assess whether geographic or temporal proximity to a mass shooting influences political attitudes. I find that mass shootings do not affect the gun policy preferences of those living nearby or of the broader public. However, the most egregious shootings appear to produce short-term, nationwide increases in the perceived importance of gun control. Chapter 2, co-authored with Derek Holliday, investigates whether voters are responsive to policy endorsements from state and local officials. Using a conjoint design, we find that public officials can shape voters’ support for COVID-19 restrictions. Chapter 3 explores how partisan attachments, self-interest, and local conditions interact to shape perceptions of non-political risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraging nearly 165,000 responses from the UCLA Health and Politics Project, I find that at lower levels of inferred risk, Democrats express more concern than Republicans, but as mortality risk increases, partisan differences narrow.