Abstract

This article uses the Converse‐McGuire model of attitude change to analyze the surge in public support for national leaders and their policies at the start of the Gulf War. From data collected just before and just after fighting began, the article finds substantial support for the basic tenets of the model, namely that attitude change depended on a two‐step process in which the most aware citizens were most likely to receive change‐inducing messages at the start of the war, but were also most able to reject messages that were inconsistent with their partisan or ideological orientations.