Public Support for State Challenges to National Laws

Abstract

State governments are increasingly challenging the national government and pursuing state rules in opposition to national laws. I am interested in whether the public supports this strategy. Do people want state governments to deliver policy outcomes that better fit the interests of state constituents—even if it undercuts the authority of the national government? Or are citizens critical of state actions that challenge national laws? I find that most Americans do not believe that states should be allowed to block the enforcement of federal laws they disagree with. Opposition to state challenges increases with support for the rule of law. Using experiments, I explore whether people are less likely to support policy outcomes when they are described as challenging national provisions. I find limited evidence that people evaluate state policies differently when described as contrary to national laws. People support national supremacy in the abstract and accept state resistance to national mandates in practice.