Partisan Polarization and Resistance to Elite Messages: Results from a Survey Experiment on Social Distancing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syon Bhanot ◽  
Daniel J. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Partisan Polarization

Reactions to China-linked Fake News: Experimental Evidence from Taiwan

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Fin Bauer ◽  
Kimberly L. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
False News

Abstract China is accused of conducting disinformation campaigns on Taiwan's social media. Existing studies on foreign interventions in democratic societies predict that such disinformation campaigns should lead to increasing partisan polarization within Taiwan. We argue that a backlash effect, making Taiwan's citizens more united against China, is equally plausible. We conduct a survey experiment exposing participants to a real-life rumour and rebuttal to test these competing hypotheses. We find, at best, mixed evidence for polarization. Although neither rumour nor rebuttal mention China, there is consistent evidence of backlash against China. Most notably, participants across the political spectrum are more inclined to support Taiwanese independence after viewing the rumour rebuttal. These findings indicate that citizens may put aside partisanship when confronted with false news that is plausibly linked to an external actor. We conclude by discussing the broader applicability of our theory and implications for cross-Strait relations.

scholarly journals Social Comparisons and Cooperation During COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhei Kitamura ◽  
Katsunori Yamada
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Factorial Design ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Policy Intervention ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Familiar Face ◽  
The Social ◽  
Long Time

We conducted a survey experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic to examine the effects of information treatments on individuals' cooperation with social distancing measures. Using a 2 x 2 factorial design, we examined the effects of messages that contained information about the length of time individuals spend outside the home compared with the social norms. We also examined the effects of the identity of the messenger by comparing information delivered by a powerful messenger who rarely speaks up publicly with that delivered by a familiar face. Based on a sample of about 3,000 respondents, we find that our subjects cooperated with social distancing measures more when they understood they had spent a relatively long time outside the home in the previous week. We also find no backfiring effects among subjects who stayed home longer than the social norms, and little evidence that a powerful messenger increases the persuasiveness of the message. Our results suggest that a feasible and repeatable policy intervention to induce citizens to cooperate with social distancing measures is simply informing them about society's statistics and letting them make comparisons with the social norms.

Research Insights: Unintended Byproducts of News Coverage about Noncompliance: A Social Norms Exploration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Déborah Martínez Villarreal ◽  
Cristina Parilli ◽  
Carlos Scartascini ◽  
Alberto Simpser
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Knowing That

Social norms used in communications can help/hurt compliance with public health guidelines. In Mexico, a survey experiment was conducted to explore the knowledge-behavior gap in social distancing noncompliance. Despite believing that attending social gatherings is inappropriate, communicating to a person that friends are highly likely to attend the party increases the probability of generalizing others attendance and possibly their own. Believing that it is appropriate to attend a party during COVID-19 and knowing that most friends will go does not make one more likely to guess that a person will attend that party than if one believed it was not appropriate to attend the party. This represents a contradiction.

Voter Decision-Making with Polarized Choices

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon C. Rogowski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Voter Decision Making ◽  
American Political Science ◽  
Political Decision Making

In 1950, members of the American Political Science Association’s Committee on Political Parties argued that voters could exercise greater control over government if the two major political parties adopted clear and ideologically distinct policy platforms. In 2015, partisan polarization is a defining feature of American politics and extreme parties have maintained support elsewhere. This article investigates voter decision-making with ideologically divergent electoral choices and argues that ideological conflict reduces citizens’ responsiveness to candidates’ ideological locations by increasing the role of motivated reasoning in political decision-making. Results from two observational studies and a survey experiment support this account, and the findings are robust across a range of models. These results have important implications for accountability and democratic decision-making in an age of partisan polarization.

scholarly journals How to encourage “Togetherness by Keeping Apart” amid COVID-19? The ineffectiveness of prosocial and empathy appeals

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Favero ◽  
Mogens Jin Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Prosocial Motivation ◽  
Information Cues ◽  
Containment Measure ◽  
Using Data ◽  
A Current

The COVID-19 pandemic is a major challenge facing societies around the world. Citizen engagement in “social distancing” is a key containment measure for curtailing the spread of the virus. But what kind of information should governments use for encouraging social distancing compliance? Using data from a pre-registered survey experiment among US residents (n = 1,502), we examine how five distinct COVID-19 information cues—which each appeal to prosocial motivation and empathy in varying degree—affect people’s willingness to social distance. We find no significant differences across experimental conditions in terms of (a) the duration that respondents are willing to maintain social distancing, (b) intended social distancing behavior, or (c) COVID-19-related attitudes and beliefs. Our findings should not necessarily discourage decision-makers from priming prosocial motivation and empathy as means for promoting social distancing, but they do suggest a current need for more engaging medium than simple textual messages for such appeals.

scholarly journals Partisan polarization and resistance to elite messages: Results from survey experiments on social distancing

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syon P. Bhanot ◽  
Daniel J. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Party Decline ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Health Experts

COVID-19 compelled government officials in the U.S. and elsewhere to institute social distancing policies, shuttering much of the economy. At a time of low trust and high polarization, Americans may only support such disruptive policies when recommended by same-party politicians. A related concern is that some may resist advice from “elite” sources such as government officials or public health experts. We test these possibilities using novel data from two online surveys with embedded experiments conducted with approximately 2,000 Pennsylvania residents each, in spring 2020 (Study 1 in April and Study 2 in May-June). We uncover partisan differences in views on several coronavirus-related policies, which grew larger between surveys. Yet overall, Study 1 respondents report strong support for social distancing policies and high trust in medical experts. Moreover, an experiment in Study 1 finds no evidence of reduced support for social distancing policies when advocated by elites, broadly defined. A second experiment in Study 2 finds no backlash for a policy described as being backed by public health experts, but a cross-party decline in support for the same policy when backed by government officials. This suggests that, in polarized times, public health experts might be better advocates for collectively beneficial public policies during public health crises than government officials.

scholarly journals We Cannot Disagree Forever! Reality Polarization and Citizens’ Post-Pandemic Fiscal Adjustment Preferences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap ◽  
Christel Koop ◽  
Konstantinos Matakos ◽  
Asli Unan ◽  
Nina Sophie Weber
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Corporate Taxes ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Factual Information ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Fiscal Adjustment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Democrats And Republicans

Recent studies have found considerable partisan polarization of both reality and policy preferences in the US. Furthermore, this polarization is so entrenched that it is immune to the provision of factual information. Has the COVID-19 pandemic, which a↵ects citizens unequally, reproduced or disrupted these polarization patterns? To answer this question, we conducted a US-wide conjoint survey experiment with embedded information treatments. We focus on citizens’ fiscal adjustment preferences given the (anticipated) lasting fiscal COVID-19 legacy. We find that both reality perceptions regarding the pandemic and policy preferences over post-COVID-19 fiscal adjustment are polarized along familiar partisan lines, but map less well onto traditional socio- economic cleavages. However, we find that the partisan policy polarization largely disappears when citizens are exposed to information on predicted COVID-19 deaths and income losses. This de-polarizing e↵ect is due to synchronous movement by both Democrats and Republicans, which bridges the policy gap between them. Importantly, such information has the additional reset e↵ect of shifting fiscal policy preferences towards a greater reliance on wealth and corporate taxes. We find further evidence that a US-wide consensus over a post-pandemic fiscal policy ’New Deal’ is feasible and potentially lasting.

scholarly journals Comparative experimental evidence on compliance with social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Becher ◽  
Daniel Stegmueller ◽  
Sylvain Brouard ◽  
Eric Kerrouche
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Central Public Health ◽  
The Us ◽  
List Experiment ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity ◽  
Cross National

Social distancing is a central public health measure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but individuals' compliance cannot be taken for granted. We use a survey experiment to examine the prevalence of non-compliance with social distancing in nine countries and test pre-registered hypotheses about individual-level characteristics associated with less social distancing. Leveraging a list experiment to control for social desirability bias, we find large cross-national variation in adherence to social distancing guidelines. Compliance varies systematically with COVID-19 fatalities and the strictness of lockdown measures. We also find substantial heterogeneity in the role of individual-level predictors. While there is an ideological gap in social distancing in the US and New Zealand, this is not the case in European countries. Taken together, our results suggest caution when trying to model pandemic health policies on other countries' experiences. Behavioral interventions targeted towards specific demographics that work in one context might fail in another.

Framing Automatic Voter Registration: Partisanship and Public Understanding of Automatic Voter Registration

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 693-699
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Mann ◽  
Paul Gronke ◽  
Natalie Adona
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Voter Registration ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Partisan Polarization ◽  
Election Reform ◽  
Recent Innovation ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
Voter Fraud ◽  
Source Cues

Automatic voter registration (AVR) is a recent innovation in voter registration in the United States, passed by 18 states plus DC in the last 4 years. AVR has generally escaped partisan polarization about election reform, having passed in Republican and Democratic controlled states. Using a survey experiment in the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we investigate effects of source cues about support of AVR from different party elites and from election administrators on the public’s expectations about AVR’s impact on turnout, voter fraud, fairness, and election problems. Our experimental results show an asymmetric partisan effect. When AVR is endorsed by Democratic leaders, Republicans (and independents) expect AVR to reduce the fairness and legitimacy of elections, while Democrats are generally resistant to partisan cues.

Interculturalism and the Acceptance of Minority Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Social Psychological Research ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Situational Effect

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.

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