Personal involvement with issues on the public agenda

When a poll respondent is asked to name the moot important problem facing t he country, why is that the most important problem to that individual? Does concern arise from self-interest, peer-influence, a sense of civic obligat ion, or what? Using a set of seven questions developed to measure personal motivations for concern about a specific problem, this study examined data from two Texas Polls, one in 1992 when the economy dominated the public age nda, another from 1996 when crime and the economy shared the public agenda. The results indicate a stable pattern of motivation. There is a high degre e of similarity in the relative salience overall of the motives in the two years, in the relative salience of the motives linked to economic issues in both years, and in the relative salience of the motives for three other is sues examined individually in 1996.