Replication Data for: Losing on the Home Front? Battlefield Casualties, Media, and Public Support for Foreign Interventionshttps://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JIVKHEThiemo FetzerPedro CL SouzaOliver Vanden EyndeAustin L. WrightHarvard Dataverse2024-06-182024-06-18T17:07:48ZHow domestic constituents respond to signals of weakness in foreign wars remains an important question in international relations. This paper studies the impact of battlefield casualties and media coverage on public demand for war termination. To identify the effect of troop fatalities, we leverage the timing of survey collection across respondents from nine members of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Quasi-experimental evidence demonstrates that battlefield casualties increase the news coverage of Afghanistan and the public demand for withdrawal. Evidence from a survey experiment replicates the main results. To shed light on the media mechanism, we leverage a news pressure design and find that major sporting matches occurring around the time of battlefield casualties drive down subsequent coverage, and significantly weaken the effect of casualties on support for war termination. These results highlight the role that media play in shaping public support for foreign military interventions.Social Sciencesinternational securitypublic opinionpolitical economyAfghanistanNATO2024-06-182024-03-15Casualties: <br></br> iCasualties. Iraq Coalition Casualty Counts, 2017. Accessed: December 7, 2017. http://icasualties.org/. <br></br> Afghanistan newspaper coverage: <br></br> Dow Jones & Reuters. Factiva (2019). Accessed: October 26, 2019. https://global.factiva.com. <br></br> Sports newspaper coverage: <br></br> LexisNexis Academic, 2023. Accessed: July 12, 2023. https://advance.lexis.com. <br></br> Troop numbers: <br></br> NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan "Placemats" Archive (2015-2021). Accessed: December 21, 2017. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/107995.htm/ <br></br> Sports fixtures: <br></br> Original data collection; each event in the dataset has a web link to a media source. <br></br> Pew surveys: <br></br> Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew Research Center: Global Attitudes Project 2007, 2007 [Dataset]. Roper #31085392, Version 2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31085392 <br></br> Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew Research Center Poll: Global Attitudes Project 2008, 2008 [Dataset]. Roper #31085394, Version 2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31085394 <br></br> Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew Research Center Poll: Global Attitudes Project Summer 2009, 2009 [Dataset]. Roper #31085396, Version 2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31085396 <br></br> Pew Global Attitudes Project/Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew Research Center Poll: Global Attitudes Project Fall 2009, 2009 [Dataset]. Roper #31085395, Version 2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31085395 <br></br> Pew Global Attitudes Project/Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew Research Center Poll: Global Attitudes Project Spring 2010, 2010 [Dataset]. Roper #31085397, Version 2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31085397 <br></br> Pew Global Attitudes Project/Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Pew Research Center Poll: Global Attitudes Project Spring 2011, 2011 [Dataset]. Roper #31085398, Version 2. Princeton Survey Research Associates International [producer]. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Roper Center for Public Opinion Research [distributor]. doi:10.25940/ROPER-31085398 <br></br> Survey experiment: <br></br> Original data collectionThis dataset is made available with limited information on how it can be used. You may wish to communicate with the Contact(s) specified before use.