Perceptions of Political Institutions

	Thank you for your interest in participating in this study. We have now completed data collection. Below is a summary of some of our findings.
	How much people think an institution is responsible for causing, or for fixing, problems in the country has been found in previous research to be related to how much support people have for that institution. However, past research has tended to look at perceptions of responsibility for just one problem. In the study that we just completed, we examined perceptions of responsibility for the problems that people saw as being most important. Data from 508 United States citizens revealed that people tend to perceive the Presidency as responsible for causing national problems and Congress as responsible for resolving them. Furthermore, people who saw the Presidency and Supreme Court as responsible for causing the most important problems the country is facing tended to have lower levels of support for these institutions. People who saw the Presidency as bearing responsibility for fixing the most important problem the country is facing tended to have more support for the Presidency. Thank you for help and your interest in this research study.