Attention beyond the battlefield: Voters’ responses to foreign military investments

Nadiya Kostyuk and Ryan Shandler
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Nadiya Kostyuk: 6612Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Ryan Shandler: 1372Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Conflict Management and Peace Science, 2026, vol. 43, issue 3, 227-244

Abstract: This study examines how voters respond to non-crisis military developments, focusing on general military, cyber, and nuclear capabilities. Using a survey experiment, it explores how information about these developments shapes voters’ preferences for US military spending. The findings show that voters are especially attentive to foreign cyber build-ups, with some assessing these developments rationally, while others rely on heuristics. These results offer a nuanced understanding of how emerging military technologies influence public perceptions and decision-making on military spending in the digital era.

Keywords: cyber-capabilities; cyber power; emerging technologies; heuristic reasoning; international security; militarization; public opinion; rational scrutiny; survey experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:compsc:v:43:y:2026:i:3:p:227-244

DOI: 10.1177/07388942251339414

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