Some thirty years ago, Free and Cantril invoked the image of a psychological pathology to describe the state of American public opinion on matters of social welfare policy. In their words, public opinion displayed a “schizoid combination of operational liberalism with ideological conservatism” (Free and Cantril, 1967: 37). While many Americans expressed opposition to an expansive government and upheld the view that people should take care of their own problems, a large portion of these same Americans also indicated support for social welfare policies. Thus, while ideological backing for the idea of a welfare state was generally lacking, endorsement of the welfare state in practice – that is, at the level of policies – was strong.

More than thirty years later we still find much the same pattern in American public opinion. Numerous studies suggest that a majority of Americans favor many social welfare programs. Reviews of survey evidence show consistently high support for Social Security (Shapiro and Smith, 1985) and spending efforts by the government to reduce unemployment (Shapiro et al., 1987a). Government guarantees for jobs are met with less enthusiasm, although support for such policies is by no means lacking (Shapiro et al., 1987a). Even in the controversial domain of public assistance, support for a range of government programs has generally been high, indicating a general willingness of the American public to come to the assistance of the poor (Shapiro et al., 1987b; Weaver et al., 1995).