Partisan endorsement experiments do not affect mass opinion on COVID-19

Shana Kushner Gadarian; Sara Wallace Goodman; Thomas Pepinsky

doi:10.1080/17457289.2021.1924727

Partisan endorsement experiments do not affect mass opinion on COVID-19

Shana Kushner Gadarian, Sara Wallace Goodman, Thomas Pepinsky

Department of Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/Debate/Erratum › peer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The partisan politics and polarized messaging surrounding COVID-19 have attracted wide interest. We present the findings of a novel survey experiment, fielded March 21-23, 2020, on a nationally-representative sample of Americans. We found no statistically significant effects of partisan endorsements or messaging from President Trump on a wide range of health behaviors and policy attitudes. We speculate on potential explanations for these null results, such as America’s saturated media environment or heterogeneous effects by party. Our results suggest that priming experiments face serious obstacles when implemented at the same time as a national crisis is unfolding.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	122-131
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
Volume	31
Issue number	S1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2021.1924727
State	Published - 2021

Keywords

COVID 19
experiments
null effects

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sociology and Political Science

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10.1080/17457289.2021.1924727

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title = "Partisan endorsement experiments do not affect mass opinion on COVID-19",

abstract = "The partisan politics and polarized messaging surrounding COVID-19 have attracted wide interest. We present the findings of a novel survey experiment, fielded March 21-23, 2020, on a nationally-representative sample of Americans. We found no statistically significant effects of partisan endorsements or messaging from President Trump on a wide range of health behaviors and policy attitudes. We speculate on potential explanations for these null results, such as America{\textquoteright}s saturated media environment or heterogeneous effects by party. Our results suggest that priming experiments face serious obstacles when implemented at the same time as a national crisis is unfolding.",

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AB - The partisan politics and polarized messaging surrounding COVID-19 have attracted wide interest. We present the findings of a novel survey experiment, fielded March 21-23, 2020, on a nationally-representative sample of Americans. We found no statistically significant effects of partisan endorsements or messaging from President Trump on a wide range of health behaviors and policy attitudes. We speculate on potential explanations for these null results, such as America’s saturated media environment or heterogeneous effects by party. Our results suggest that priming experiments face serious obstacles when implemented at the same time as a national crisis is unfolding.

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KW - null effects

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Partisan endorsement experiments do not affect mass opinion on COVID-19

Abstract

Keywords

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