Out of Sight, Out of Mind? The Impact of Issue Proximity on Policy Choice at the Individual Level

ABSTRACT

Scholars have extensively studied the link between issue definition and policy choice. However, empirical evidence on the role of issue proximity on policy support at the individual level remains scarce. The study draws on policy and management literatures to examine whether framing an issue as more or less spatially proximate to an individual affects their attitudes towards local government action to mitigate it. Using a case of an environmental issue and associated sustainability efforts, data come from a survey experiment with US voters, randomly assigned to one of four conditions: local, national, and global issue proximity, with no information on proximity serving as the control group. The dependent variables represent respondents' support for adopting green public procurement at the local level. The results show that issue proximity matters for policy choice generally, but people tend to think and act locally when personal costs are involved. The findings have implications for policy theory and practice, including shedding light on the link between problem definition and the public's attitudes towards its resolution, as well as local officials' strategies for communicating psychologically distant problems and packaging policy tools.