Where Self-Interest Trumps Ideology: Liberal Homeowners and Local Opposition to Housing Development

Presented by Clayton Nall, Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of California Santa Barbara.

How much does self-interest drive Americans' policy attitudes? Two survey experiments show that liberal homeowners are cross-pressured, and barely more likely than conservative homeowners to support dense housing development. Messages appealing to homeowners' self-interest reduce support further, while countervailing appeals about housing's benefits to low- and middle-income families barely offset the negative effect. We discuss implications for place-based equality of opportunity.

*Political Institutions & Political Economy