ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC OPINION FOLLOWING A TERRORIST ATTACK IN OHIO

Though Islamic State-inspired terrorist attacks make up only a small subset of terrorist events in the United States, they loom large in the public consciousness and receive extensive media attention. The team used a natural experiment to investigate the impact of terrorist violence on public preferences for US military force and intervention abroad. Taking into consideration mediating factors such as partisanship and media consumption, the team analyzed data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, a national and state representative survey, which was being conducted at the time of the 2016 Jihadi-inspired terrorist attack at The Ohio State University. The team’s findings provide insight into the impact of the attack on public opinion in Ohio, and contribute to the broader research on the influence of personal experiences on public preferences.