Individual-level Predictors of Leader and Public Support for the Use of Force

A great deal of the research examining the structure of foreign policy attitudes has focused on the aggregate level. Page and Shapiro (1992; also see Knopf, 1998; Erikson, MacKuen, & Stimson, 2002; Isernia, Juhasz, & Rattinger, 2002) argued that the public as a whole exhibits consistent and coherent attitudes at the aggregate level. However, Althaus (2003) and Converse (2000) point out that the opinions of the “informed public” differ from those of the rest of the public in that they are more consistent and reliable. Most political information and knowledge is contained within a small portion of the electorate and these differences in information affect the quality and coherence of opinions (Althaus, 2003; Bartels, 1994; Converse, 2000; Zaller, 1992...