Are partisan perception gaps driven more by elites than individual bias? This article investigates how party cues influence citizens' views on economic conditions. Partisanship often skews perceptions of real-world issues, with studies showing a tendency to view the economy favorably when one's own party holds office.
However, previous explanations focusing solely on citizen motivated reasoning may overlook elite impact. Research based on two distinct methods—a quasi-experimental panel study and a randomized experiment—reveals that partisan elites significantly shape these economic perceptions.
Key Findings
* Elite messaging substantially influences partisan perception gaps.
* This effect exists beyond the influence of citizens' own biased beliefs.
Why It Matters
*These findings suggest partisan elites play a more central role in driving perceptual differences than earlier studies indicated. Understanding this dynamic is crucial for comprehending political polarization and how elite messaging affects public opinion.
| Partisan Elites as Culprits? How Party Cues Shape Partisan Perceptual Gaps was authored by Martin Bisgaard and Rune Slothuus. It was published by Wiley in AJPS in 2018. |
