Framing Narratives About Policy: Character Race Impact on Welfare Support, Stereotypes, and NIMBYism

As the wealth gap in the US continues to grow, many struggle financially. Resistance to policy intended to provide relief, including NIMBY (not in my backyard) beliefs toward affordable housing, is often linked to racial attitudes. This project utilized an experimental design to investigate whether narrative can be used to overcome resistance in the context of government assistance programs. Black (n = 269) and white (n = 272) adults in the US were recruited with an online survey platform, Prolific. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (narrative with a Black character, with a white character, or no narrative). As hypothesized, participants who saw a narrative had higher welfare support, lower negative welfare stereotypes, and lower NIMBY attitudes than participants who did not see a narrative. Participants who saw the condition with a white character had significantly higher welfare support, lower negative welfare stereotypes, and lower NIMBY attitudes compared to the control, partially supporting hypotheses. There was no significant difference between the condition with a Black character and other conditions. Predictions regarding causal attribution of poverty and racial perceptions were not supported. Results provide support for the use of narrative as a tool for policy advocacy. Future research should further study the impact of character demographics on audience attitudes.