New research explores how party cues and policy information influence public opinion on initiatives. Using survey experiments, citizens were exposed to different combinations of these informational sources in a real-world electoral context.

Findings

* Citizens do not ignore policy information even when they receive party cues.

* Opinions often shift away from one's own party's stance if strong reasons are provided by the policy details.

This challenges the view that party identification overrides all other influences on voting. It suggests targeted efforts to inform citizens about policies could meaningfully shape their political opinions.