Context and attitude formation: Social interaction, default information, or local interests?

Contextual influences on public opinion have usually been conceived as the result of interpersonal discussion. More recently, some have suggested the locale provides a default source of political information in the absence of national-level information. I test an alternative mechanism for the influence of the local context: citizens who weigh the local interest in forming political attitudes. Using the 1993 Canadian Election Study merged to census and economic data down to the neighbourhood level, I find that very specific indicators of local interests influence issue-opinions and group feelings to which those interests are directly relevant. This influence is no stronger among those who discuss politics, nor among those lacking national political information. This is powerful circumstantial evidence that supports the hypothesis that the local interest is an important determinant of political attitudes.