Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Do Politicians Outside the United States Also Think Voters Are More Conservative than They Really Are?

Publication date2023-06-14
First online date2023-06-14
Abstract

In an influential recent study, Broockman and Skovron (2018) found that American politicians consistently overestimate the conservativeness of their constituents on a host of issues. Whether this conservative bias in politicians’ perceptions of public opinion is a uniquely American phenomenon is an open question with broad implications for the quality and nature of democratic representation. We investigate it in four democracies: Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland. Despite these countries having political systems that differ greatly, we document a strong and persistent conservative bias held by a majority of the 866 representatives interviewed. Our findings highlight the conservative bias in elites’ perception of public opinion as a widespread regularity and point toward a pressing need for further research on its sources and impacts.

Keywords
  • Democracy
  • Representation
  • Politicians
  • Conservatism
  • Public Opinion
  • Party Ideology
Citation (ISO format)
PILET, Jean-Benoit et al. Do Politicians Outside the United States Also Think Voters Are More Conservative than They Really Are? In: The American political science review, 2023, p. 1–9. doi: 10.1017/S0003055423000527
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
Journal ISSN0003-0554
318views
155downloads

Technical informations

Creation14/06/2023 17:42:07
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Update time06/12/2024 15:49:08
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