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

May 3, 2000	Contact: Margaret McCarthy, UIC (312) 996-8279; mmm@uic.edu
	Susan Hoffmann, InterSurvey (510) 457-3143; shoffmann@upstart.com

UIC INVESTIGATES PUBLIC'S RESPONSE TO CONTROVERSY, ELIÁN
Finds Americans more disgusted with Elián's relatives than government

More Americans were disgusted with the behavior of Elián Gonzalez's Miami relatives (44.3 %) than by the actions of the U.S. government (31.5 %), according to a survey conducted April 28, immediately after Elián's removal from his relatives' home.

Linda Skitka, University of Illinois at Chicago 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 and their level of moral conviction surrounding outcomes of controversial issues.

Preliminary findings show that the best predictor of people's opinions about what should happen with Elián is not their ethnic identity, gender, parental status or age, but the relative weight they attach to the right to live in a free country versus parental rights.

The goal of Skitka's project is to use pre-outcome judgements of moral mandate and procedural fairness to predict people's reactions to political and social controversy -- in this case, people's opinions regarding what happens to Elián Gonzalez as measured through national surveys conducted by InterSurvey.

"People who feel Elián should be allowed to return to Cuba feel that way because they have a high investment in parental rights. Interestingly, though, most of these people do not see Elián's return to his father or to Cuba as very personally important or as a moral imperative. In contrast, people who feel that Elián should stay in the United States definitely see the issue in terms of the value they place on freedom -- they see Elián's case as very personally important and view it as a moral imperative," Skitka said.

According to the data, support for the use of force was best predicted by the value people placed on parental rights, and secondarily by the extent to which people felt that the legal procedures had been fair up until that point, and finally by age. Older Americans were more supportive of the use of force than younger Americans.

Even though 63.5 percent of Americans thought it was a good or a very good idea to remove Elián from his Miami relatives' home, and 51.8 percent felt it was "about time," 47.8 percent nonetheless felt that it was a bad or very bad idea to use force, and that doing so was the wrong choice from a moral point of view.

Table 1
Americans' Reactions to Forced Return of Elián to His Father
(Percentage of Americans +/- 4 %)

Concern	36.4%
Outrage	16.4%
"About Time"	51.8%
Relief	29%
Disgust with Miami Relatives	44.3%
Disgust With Government	31.5%

Although Americans were relatively supportive of people's peaceful protest against taking Elián from his Miami relatives' home, Americans were highly disapproving of lighting fires in the streets or more violent protests against this action

Table 2
Americans' Reactions to Elián's Removal from His Miami Relatives' Home
(Percentage of Americans +/- 4 %)

Would Not Understand if Protests Turned More Violent	92.4%
Disapprove of Fires Lit in Streets	93.5%
Approve of peaceful protest	40.6%

Support for political protest was best predicted by the extent to which people valued freedom, level of education, and whether the respondent was a parent. The more people valued freedom, the more supportive they were of protest; more highly educated people were less supportive of protest and, interestingly, parents were more supportive of protest than nonparents. Cuban Americans were no more likely to support peaceful protest than other Americans, but were slightly more likely to support more violent protest.

"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?"

Results are based on a national random sample of 897 adults. The data were 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 national survey is the second in a series of three that are asking Americans their opinions about the Elián situation. The first was conducted before federal marshals acted to remove the boy and the second one was conducted immediately following the seizure. The survey participants will next be asked their opinions following the resolution of the controversy.

The final survey will 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

About InterSurvey: 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.

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