Economic Conditions, Causal Attributions, and Political Evaluations in the 1984 Presidential Election

Using data from the 1984 American National Election Study, this paper examines the influence of personal finances on political evaluations. Evaluations of the presidential candidates were affected by perceived changes in personal economic well-being only among citizens who held the government or society responsible for these changes. Attributions of responsibility were, in turn, related to the direction of change in financial well-being and to political interest--those citizens whose economic well-being had declined, and those who followed the campaign closely were more likely to attribute responsibility to the government (or society) than those whose circumstances had improved, and those who paid less attention to the campaign.