University of Illinois at Chicago Office of Public Affairs (MC 288)
601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7113, (312) 996-3456, www.uic.edu/depts/paff

April 11, 2000

Margaret McCarthy, UIC (312) 996-8279; mmm@uic.edu Melinda Sacks, InterSurvey (650) 289-2076; msacks@intersurvey.com

MOST AMERICANS BELIEVE ELIÁN SHOULD RETURN TO CUBA
UIC Researches Public's Response to Controversial Issues

According to a national survey, 57 percent of Americans believe Elián Gonzalez should return to Cuba. The same percentage of Americans believe that whether Elián should stay or return is a moral rather than legal or political issue, according to the April 9 survey.

Perhaps the most striking finding is that the majority of Americans (53 percent) value parental rights more than being able to live in a free country (29 percent). This result is equally true of parents and nonparents, men and women.

It is the strength of people's moral convictions regarding Elián's fate, however, and to what degree these convictions influence the perception of justice that interests University of Illinois at Chicago psychologist Linda Skitka, who directed the survey.

Skitka, associate professor of psychology, received funding from the National Science Foundation to research the general public's response to controversial issues - specifically, people's assessment of procedural fairness surrounding controversial issue outcomes. The results of Skitka's research could help predict the occurrence of public distrust, anger and even riots.

The goal of Skitka's project is to use pre-outcome judgements of moral mandate and procedural fairness to predict post-outcome reactions to the resolution - in this case, whether Elián is granted asylum or returns to Cuba.

"This is a unique opportunity to study public reaction to an issue of clear importance," said Skitka. "What will predict whether people see the resolution of the Elián Gonzalez situation as fair? Is it how fair they perceive the legal procedures to be, or how strongly they feel about whether he should return to Cuba or stay in the United States? It's a classic question - which is more important: the means or the ends?"

Although the answer to this broader question will have to wait until data are collected after Elián's case is decided, results from Skitka's pre-outcome survey provide a snapshot of American opinion (see the following graphs).

Results are based on a national random sample of 790 adults. The data was collected using an innovative methodology developed by InterSurvey of Menlo Park, Calif. InterSurvey has provided a random sample of more than 50,000 households with a free WebTV and Internet access, establishing the first representative Web sample for use in public opinion and marketing research. The data was collected within 24 hours, making it an ideal method in this situation.

A second survey will be taken following either Elián's return to Cuba or receipt of asylum in the United States to provide outcome fairness assessments and judgments of procedural fairness, as well as answers to a number of questions relating to decision acceptance versus anger and support for political protest and activism.

"There has been very little research that explicitly explores the precursors of what leads to an extreme response to perceived injustice," said Skitka. "When people have a strong, pre-existing moral mandate in a given context, new procedural information may do little to influence how they perceive the fairness of the outcome of a given situation. The Elián Gonzalez situation provides for an excellent opportunity to study a very controversial event as it unfolds."

The National Science Foundation funds research and education in science and engineering. It does this through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities and other research and/or education institutions in all parts of the United States. The National Science Foundation accounts for about 20 percent of federal support to academic institutions for basic research. For more information, visit www.nsf.gov

InterSurvey provides Web-based research that collects data from a scientifically representative sample of the entire U.S. population, including those who do not own computers and those who have never before been on the Internet. InterSurvey's methodology blends the statistical reliability of probability sampling with the power of Web interviewing to solve the current problems associated with survey research conducted on the Web, in person, by mail or on the telephone. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.intersurvey.com

With 25,000 students, the University of Illinois at Chicago is the largest and most diverse university in the Chicago area. UIC is home to the largest medical school in the United States and is one of only 88 national Research I universities. Located just west of Chicago's Loop, UIC is a vital part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of the area.

Color graphs of survey results

 

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