Changing environments, changing opinions: The effects of partisanship, education, and the media on opinions of the Iraq War

John Zaller's Receive-Accept-Sample (RAS) theory is applied to public opinion toward the Iraq War from March 2003 to September 2008. People's partisanship and education level in combination with the media environment were used for testing hypotheses in this analysis. A content analysis of the Washington Times and the Washington Post was conducted to determine the media environment toward the Iraq War. Pew polls were used to determine the support levels of different partisan and awareness groups (determined by educational achievement). Republicans were more supportive of the Iraq War. It was highly probable partisan polarization increased with increases in elite cue polarization and message intensity. The high aware partisans were the most polarized awareness group and also held opinions that reflected mainstream messages the most.