While my main focus is on the effect of countrylevel
variables, most of the explanatory power when
investigating public opinion is found at the individual
level. The following controls are included in
the present analysis: INCOME (1–10) refers to a selfassessment
of one’s household income on a scale
denoting 10 income groups. Gender is represented
in the models by a dummy variable called WOMAN.
Also included are POLITICAL INTEREST (1–7)
and CONFIDENCE IN INSTITUTIONS (1–16).
POLITICAL INTEREST is composed of two variables
(IMPORTANCE OF POLITICS and INTEREST IN
POLITICS), whereas CONFIDENCE IN INSTITUTIONS
is constructed using five questions pertaining
to whether or not the respondent has confidence in
the justice system, civil service, police, labour unions,
and the press. This variable measures trust in institutions
that are representative of the state yet separate
from the parliament and executive. CONFIDENCE
IN INSTITUTIONS is an individual-level variable
that is also interacted with one of the country-level
variables to produce a cross-level interaction term