Garnering Support for the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax through Strategic Messaging

Abstract

This project aims to gain insight into public opinion regarding the Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax, and how framing of the SSB tax can influence public opinion. This empirical evidence is valuable, as the U.S. is on the verge of SSB tax proposals emerging in cities nationwide. There has already been great variability in the ways the SSB tax has been framed since 2010, and there is still a large knowledge gap in determining what messages are most effective with which types of voters, which can be closed through rigorous testing. There is also little information on whether sociodemographic characteristics and political affiliation moderate the impact of attitudes toward the SSB tax, despite implications for health disparities in SSB consumption and related health outcomes. The central question is: how do differences in the way the sugar-sweetened beverage tax is presented impact the attitudes of voting-age Americans toward the tax?