Saybrook University Psychology Alumnus and Director of The Program for Public Consultation Dr. Steven Kull releases results of a new study in a public presentation, What Kind of Defense Budget Would the American Public Make?
Thursday, May 10, 2012 10:00-11:30 am
The Stimson Center 1111 19th Street, NW 12th Floor
In this presentation and in cooperation with other colleagues, Dr. Kull will dicuss what average Americans would do if they were informed about the level and purposes of U.S. defense spending and had a chance to weigh the arguments that experts make. They will address the following questions: would the public boost overall funding, or cut it; would they spend more on air power or sea power; and how much would they say the US should spend on nuclear arms, on major ground forces, and on special forces?
Most polls simply ask whether defense spending should be cut or not. But three organizations, the Program for Public Consultation (PPC), the Stimson Center, and the Center for Public Integrity collaborated on a more useful survey. They provided a representative sample of the American public neutral information about how funds are currently being spent, and exposed them to the various arguments made by advocates in the contemporary debate on whether defense should be cut. The respondents then said what they wished to spend in key areas.
The results of this innovative survey are now in, and Dr. Kull and his colleagues invite you to attend a presentation that will shed new light on the linkages and gaps between decisions being made in Washington and what average Americans want. The results will also make clear which arguments in favor of or opposed to current defense spending have the most resonance with members of the public. Please call 202-232-7500 for additional information.
Dr. Kull received his Ph.D. at Saybrook University in 1980. The chair of his dissertation was Dr. Stan Krippner. Dr. Kull is a political psychologist, is director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), which manages WorldPublicOpinion.org, and is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), University of Maryland. He is also director of the Program for Public Consultation, which develops methods for governments to consult their publics on policy decisions. Dr. Kull has played a central role in the BBC World Service global poll, and regularly gives briefings to the US Congress, the State Department, the UN, and the European Commission. He appears frequently in the international media and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He recently completed a four-year study of the Muslim public, summarized in his newest book Feeling Betrayed: The Roots of Muslim Anger at America (Brookings).
* The Program for Public Consultation is a joint program of the Center for PolicyAttitudes and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland