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Public Support for Regulating the Public 261

are directly engaging in the problem behavior (Coffman, 2003). For exam-
ple, framing tobacco control in terms of the public health hazard of sec-
ondhand smoke rather than as an individual user health problem shifts the
costs toward a more collective concern. There are two complementary per-
spectives of what it means for an issue to be an important social issue.
Coffman (2003) draws on Zastrow’s (1993, p. 5) definition of a social
problem: “A social problem exists when an influential group asserts that a
certain social condition: (1) affects a large number of people; (2) is a prob-
lem; (3) that may be remedied by a collective action.” Direct empirical
support for this view includes the findings that support for higher alcohol
taxes is associated with a stronger perception of the health problems as-
sociated with drinking (Greenfield, Johnson, & Giesbrecht, 2004); that
support for prohibiting alcohol sales in public places is associated with the
belief that underage drinking is a major problem in the community
(Richter, Vaughn, & Foster, 2004); and that stiffer penalties and lower le-
gal limits for drunk drivers are associated with greater concern over drunk
driving (Wagenaar & Streff, 1990).
A second perspective is that the key to creating public support for poli-
cies that address a problem is to use communications that “translate per-
sonal problems into public issues” (C. Wright Mills [1959], quoted by
Wallack and Dorfman, 1996, p. 300). Wallack and his colleagues (Wallack
& Lawrence, 2005; Winett & Wallack, 1996) have emphasized the impor-
tance of framing the targeted behavior in structuralist rather than indi-
vidualistic terms. Thus, a person who engages in the behavior is a victim
of circumstances. A consistent finding in the support for welfare literature
is that the more a person accepts a structuralist interpretation, the more
that person will support allocating resources to those who deserve them
(Pereira & Van Ryzin, 1998; Timberlake, Lock, & Rasinski, 2003).
Moreover, individuals who have an individualistic view are far more likely
to support policies that punish welfare recipients than those who do not.
Parallel results are found when the issue is drug control spending and
combating drug use with law enforcement instead of rehabilitation or pre-
vention. This argument is also supported by numerous case studies where
policy advocates sought to communicate that individuals who were
harmed by their own actions were victims of structural conditions rather
than perpetrators who suffered from their own choices (Wallack, Winett,
& Lee, 2005; Holder et al., 1997).
efficacy and public support. Case studies and other literature support
the proposition that the perceived efficacy of a policy solution will be as-
sociated with support for the policy. Both Holder and colleagues (1997) in
their study of alcohol control policies and Wallack and colleagues (2005)