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Scientific article
Open access
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.

eng
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
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Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0003-0554
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61downloads

Technical informations

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