Replication Data for: \"What motivates public support for public transit?\"

Voters often support increased spending for public transportation, but the motivation behind this support is as hard to discern as it is substantively important. Why do voters support transit? We use a survey-framing experiment (n = 1200) to evaluate the persuasive effects of common arguments for public transit. We study how different arguments change not just people’s attitudes toward transit, but also their willingness to become politically active on its behalf. Our findings are twofold. First, arguments that transit will reduce congestion or improve environmental outcomes (specifically, mitigate climate change) make people more supportive of public transportation, while arguments about making travel more convenient, helping the poor, or satisfying other people’s desire for transit do not. Second, congestion-based arguments are self-undermining with respect to activism: they make people more likely to support transit, but less likely to become activists for it. Congestion-based arguments are persuasive because they remind people of wasted time, but in reminding people of time-scarcity they reduce people’s willingness to become involved. Overall, our results suggest that the common reasons people use transit are not powerful political arguments for supporting it, and that one powerful political argument for supporting it, in addition to being inaccurate, might undermine efforts to organize on its behalf.

选民普遍支持增加公共交通领域的财政投入，但其支持行为背后的动机既难以探明，又具有至关重要的实质意义。选民为何会支持公共交通？我们采用框架型调查实验（survey-framing experiment，n=1200），评估常见公共交通宣传论点的说服效果。本研究旨在探究不同论点不仅会如何改变民众对公共交通的态度，还会如何影响其为公共交通事业开展政治行动的意愿。我们的研究结论包含两点：其一，宣称公共交通可缓解拥堵或改善环境效益（具体而言，减缓气候变化）的论点，能够提升民众对公共交通的支持度；而诸如提升出行便利性、帮扶弱势群体，或是满足他人公共交通出行需求的论点则无此效果。其二，基于拥堵缓解的论点会对行动意愿产生反噬：它们虽能提升民众对公共交通的支持度，却会降低其成为该事业活动参与者的可能性。这类基于拥堵的论点之所以具备说服力，是因为它们唤起了民众对时间浪费的感知，但在唤醒民众时间稀缺意识的同时，也削弱了其参与相关行动的意愿。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，民众选择乘坐公共交通的常见理由，并非支撑公共交通政策支持的有力政治论据；而另一个虽具说服力却并不准确的支持论据，反而可能破坏为该事业开展组织动员的努力。