Exploring a Generalizable Framework for Understanding Attitudes Toward Universal and Targeted Policies

Abstract

Political struggles in educational equity have long concerned themselves with whether it is better to achieve equality by providing all with the same resources or directing resources to specific groups based on specific criteria (with that criterion often being the need). The purpose of this study is to investigate attitudes towards “targeted” policies, in comparison to “universal” policy. This work includes both race and income targeted foci, enabling comparison, as well as an experimental approach that investigates attitudes across policies in order to identify generalizable patterns. Initial results identify significantly reduced support for race-targeted policy relative to income-targeted and universal policy, with heterogeneous patterns across policy areas. Further models investigate heterogeneity across individuals and predictors of targeting effects.