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The Varied Effects of Policy Cues on Partisan Opinions
Author(s) -
Grossmann Matt
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/polp.12102
Subject(s) - politics , polarization (electrochemistry) , political science , argumentation theory , public opinion , context (archaeology) , public relations , law , epistemology , paleontology , philosophy , chemistry , biology
Although citizens often arrive at the same views as their political party's leaders, they also respond to information about policy targets and effects. Accounting for political context, even in the U nited S tates, encourages a variable view of how partisanship shapes opinions in policy debates. In three survey experiments associated with policies supported by both Democrats and Republicans, I find that both aspects of policy argumentation and the actors making the arguments can enable partisanship to affect public opinion. This process is highly conditional, however: sometimes polarization occurs only with the presence of a single politician; in other areas, polarization is likely following presentation of evidence by either partisan side. The effect of policy information on partisan polarization is variable across political and policy contexts.