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Government

No matter who is governing, there is always negativity around the idea of government. Good framing makes the need for good government clear.

Anti-government sentiment undermines good policies and better politics. Advocates across social issues need effective ways to frame the role of government.

Common catchphrases like “taxpayer dollars reflect a “vending machine” view of government, suggesting citizens who put money in should expect an instant, proportional, direct benefit. “Safety net language reinforces the idea that the goal of government is to catch those who fall, not to promote a shared, common good. A different story can spark different mindsets. Talking about shared resources and needs and reframing budgets and taxes in terms of long-term generational exchange helps.

Explore these ideas and more in the resources here.

Showing 13 – 24 of 30

Report

“Just Do It” Communicating Implementation Science and Practice

How can we talk about evidence-based decisionmaking and implementation science in ways that build support for robust, intentional implementation efforts?

External article

The Case Against Rainy-Day Framing of Budgets and Taxes

FrameWorks founder Susan Nall Bales explains why public revenue and spending is every advocate’s “second issue.”

Report

How to Talk About Budgets and Taxes: A FrameWorks MessageMemo

This MessageMemo provides advocates with a communications map for improving the public's understanding of the linked topics of budgets and taxes.

Report

Planning for Our Future: The Contribution of Simplifying Models to Conceptualizing Budgets and Taxes

This report presents "Forward Exchange" as an explanatory metaphor that prompts people to think about public budgets and taxes in new ways.

Toolkit

Talking About Budgets and Taxes

This toolkit features a compendium of research on how Americans think about budgets and taxes, and how to increase public support for policies that support reforms to the budgeting process and tax...

Report

An Ounce of Prevention: Experimental Research in Strategic Frame Analysis to Identify Effective Issue Frames for Public Budgeting and Taxation Systems

This report evaluates whether different ways of communicating can bridge the gap between expert and lay understandings of US budgeting and taxation systems.

Report

Having Our Say: Getting Priority, Transparency and Agency into the Public Discourse on Budgets and Taxes

This second phase of research uses group discussions to test potential reframes that were generated in the cognitive interviews. This method helps to show how Americans negotiate these issues in...

Report

Like Mars to Venus: The Separate and Sketchy Worlds of Budgets and Taxes

This report uses cognitive interviews to investigate Americans’ thinking about budgets and taxes- both as separate issues and as they relate to each other.

Report

By, or for, the People? A Meta-analysis of Public Opinion of Government

In this review of existing public opinion research, FrameWorks sought to understand the shape of public attitudes toward government.

Report

How to Talk About Government

This Message Brief distills research findings and framing strategies, and offers a summary of key communications strategies on the issue.

Toolkit

How to Talk About Government

Welcome to How to Talk About Government, a toolkit compendium of research and applications on how Americans think about government.

Frame Testing Recommendations

How to Talk About Government: A FrameWorks Message Memo

This MessageMemo distills insights from a set of innovative, inter-related studies, and recommends ways to communicate more effectively about government.