Citizen Support for Military Expenditures: A Longitudinal Analysis of US Public Opinion, 1999-2002

Previous research on public opinion regarding military expenditures in the United States was conducted predominantly in the cold war context. This analysis of public opinion in thirty major U.S. cities over the period 1999 through 2002 revisits this earlier literature in light of changing sociopolitical conditions during a period bracketing the onset of the war on terrorism. The study offers support for much of the earlier research with respect to sources of support for robust military expenditures, in the process illustrating the value of archival data in replicating key research findings in extant literature conducted in a cold war context. The results of the multivariate analysis offer important insights into the sources of public support for military expenditure in the post-9/11 setting.