@EdWorkingPaper{ai21-390,
title = "The Populist-Burkean Dimension in U.S. Public Opinion",
author = "M. Danish Shakeel, Paul E. Peterson",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "390",
year = "2021",
month = "April",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai21-390",
abstract = {Scholars differ as to whether populist beliefs are a discourse or an ideology resembling conservatism or liberalism. Research has shown that a belief in popular sovereignty and a distrust of public officials are core components of populism. Its antithesis is defined as Burke’s claim that officials should exercise their own judgment rather than pander to the public. A national probability sample of U. S. adults is asked to respond to six items that form a populist scale, rank themselves on a conservative-liberal scale, and state their views on education issues. The two scales are only moderately correlated, and each is independently correlated with many opinions about contemporary issues. Populism has a degree of coherence that approximates but does not match that of the conservative-liberal dimension.},
}