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february 2008 The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Public Opinion and Political Culture in 2007 cliff zukin Foreword by Mark Schmitt the next social contract New America Foundation the next social contract | new america foundation 1 The American Public contents and the Next Social Contract: i Foreword: Mark Schmitt 1 Public Opinion and Political Public Opinion and Culture in 2007 Political Culture in 2007 2 Political Culture and Values cliff zukin 7 Education 9 Social Security and Retirement Income 11 Taxation and Federal Expenditures 13 Health Care 15 Job Satisfaction and Security 18 The Environment and Climate Change 21 Implications for the Next Social Contract 24 Endnotes 24 Summary of Appendices the next social contract | new america foundation foreword: mark schmitt The first premise of the New America Foundation’s initia- tiatives, when opponents are able to tap into underlying tive on the Next Social Contract is that the structures that values that lead voters to fear change. help American workers and their families balance economic security and opportunity involve much more than a set of So in looking at the relationship between public opinion government programs. What we call the social contract is a and the social contract, we have sought not to look at public set of formal and informal systems and assumptions, involv- support for particular programs, but instead at the deeper ing individuals, employers and government, that provide, as values that would animate public debate about change. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. put it, “security in the context For example, we know that a majority of Americans would of freedom and freedom in the context of security.” These strongly favor measures to provide access to health care for assumptions have evolved through the course of American all, but we also know—from experience—that if a universal history, shaped by the crises and historical accidents from health policy is described as expanding government’s role which they were born. Together, they are rooted in the deep- in health care, it will provoke a backlash. est ethical and social principles of our founding and our sense of American identity. So the task of rebuilding the American social contract for the future will require a deep understanding of the deepest But the social contract is not merely a creation of the past. attitudes of Americans—attitudes about community, gov- It depends on the continuing consent of the governed in ernment, and family, about our obligations to one another, the present. Every political battle over domestic or eco- and about the mutual responsibilities of employers and nomic policy has been in some sense a measure of public workers. Rather than commissioning original research on attitudes about those aspects of the social contract that we public opinion about policy proposals that are so new that are ready to change and those that we still consider impor- voters are unlikely to have a view on them, we decided that tant. Public opinion both reflects the evolution of the social the first step would be to look at what we know from existing contract (as in, for example, the abiding support for Social research about the underlying attitudes that will shape the Security, both as a program and a symbolic legacy of New reaction to policy proposals when they do come forward. Deal reforms) and maps out what is possible in the next evolution of the social contract. While analysts sometimes look at two public attitudes and say that they are contradictory, in fact there is usually a way However, the relationship between public opinion and to understand the complex of opinions and see how they public policy is neither literal nor direct. We live under can fit together. That fit often illuminates the policies that many laws that, if put to a direct vote, would be resound- will win public support and provides a guide for how to talk ingly defeated. Others reflect a general preference, such as about those policies. So, for example, in this paper Cliff for tax cuts, but are implemented in ways that fail to rep- Zukin and his colleagues note that there is an increasing resent the views of the median voter. Some represent the acceptance of the need for mutual support and an active strongly held views of a minority, along with the reluctant role for government, coupled with continued skepticism consent of the rest, while others protect critically impor- of government programs. But as he points out, the data tant minority rights. Many laws simply reflect the temper show a deep commitment to the “golden value” of equality and political mood of another era, which have yet to be of opportunity. Americans favor self-reliant entrepreneurs challenged or changed. Our political institutions are not over gargantuan corporations, but they mistrust the govern- entirely democratic, and the idiosyncrasies of the Senate, ment to set a level playing field. These tensions shed light the federal budget process, and the winner-take-all nature on a perpetual interplay between the enduring American of our elections all distort policies. values of independence, opportunity, and security. At the same time, we often find policies that seem to enjoy One of the paradoxes of public policy in recent years has been majority support suffer defeat, even without the interven- the wide public support for tax cuts and other policies that ing distortions of political institutions. For example, ideas principally benefit a small percentage of households. Some that perform well in polls are often defeated in ballot ini- attribute this result to political misdirection or the use of i social wedge issues; others detect a belief by most Americans but also skeptical of large institutions and employers—are that they might soon be rich themselves. Zukin and his col- moving into voting-age adulthood. Second, as the economy leagues, however, employ data to argue that Americans changes, whether through a wrenching recession or because accept inequality as part of the normal order in a dynamic employers continue to reduce health benefits, Americans economy. This finding serves as a warning against a kind of may change their basic perception of the role of government, populist model of the social contract, emphasizing the ille- responsibilities of individuals, and expectations of employ- gitimate gains of the wealthy. Any social contract—and really ers. And, finally, leadership and language matter. A presi- any market economy with any set of rules—is redistributive dent or other public leaders who speak about the social con- by nature. But instead of redistribution for the sake of equal tract in compelling ways that connect to Americans’ basic outcomes, Americans prefer to guarantee a minimum qual- values can also guide those values in a new direction. ity of life and a basic platform of opportunity. As the initiative goes forward, we will set out to learn more But public opinion is not static, and the project of rebuilding about the first two of those three, looking more closely at the the American social contract is not going to be completed emerging generation—the “millennials”—and at changing tomorrow. The values driving public opinion will evolve in attitudes about the workforce and employment. As to the three ways. First, they will evolve as generations shift. The third, no research can help us predict whether that leader- New Deal generation is passing on, the Baby Boomers mov- ship or language will be found, but it is our hope that the ing into retirement, and a younger generation with very dif- solid empirical research of the Next Social Contract initiative, ferent values—more tolerant, more open to collective action, together with pathbreaking policy ideas, will help shape it.* Mark Schmitt is a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. * This report was prepared by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, in response to a request by the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative for a concise and timely review of existing public opinion research focusing on American attitudes about the provision of public benefits. The research project was headed by Prof. Cliff Zukin and was carried out with the assistance of Josh Appelbaum, Timothy McKinnon, and Allison Kopicki of the Bloustein School’s Masters Program in Public Policy, Krista Jenkins, Ph.D., and Theresa Thonhauser, Ph.D. The review of published opinion studies was intended to be comprehensive as of June 30, 2007. Data have been sporadically updated through the end of the year on more timely aspects of public opinion topics. ii hen we speak of the social contract we refer to the bargain between the Wpublic and the individuals and institutions they allow to govern them. Individual citizens yield the idea of complete freedom in order to have an orderly society; they both give to and take from government. There is an inherent tension between individual freedom and collective obligation. In a dynamic society such as ours the social contract is constantly evolving, albeit usually slowly. While the evolution of the social contract is fascinat- data archives, and scholarly books and journals. We focused ing from an historical context, tracking the relationship on findings that describe the existing relationship between between citizens and their government offers evidence the governed and the government, the public’s views regard- of a divided soul. Ours was a government created out of ing social programs and entitlements, and changing attitudes necessity rather than nicety, for protection rather than in the post–Big Government era following the systematic preference. We did so grudgingly and with suspicion, retrenchments of the 1980s.

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