Driving Public Support: Support for a Law is Higher When the Law is Named After a Victim

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the potential symbolic, political, and practical importance of naming a law after a victim, it is unclear whether this practice influences public opinion about the law itself. I conducted a randomized vignette survey experiment on 1,000 American adults to determine if support for a proposed distracted driving law, and the punishment it authorized, was influenced by whether it was named after a victim, as well as the victim’s race, gender, and age. I found that naming a law after a victim increased support for the law and the punishment authorized overall, but this effect was not consistent across all named laws, and instead was driven by specific types of named victims. In particular, results suggest the image of the “ideal victim” may have shifted or expanded to place greater emphasis on African American women, and less emphasis on White women.