Populist attitudes and conspiratorial thinking

Party Politics ◽

10.1177/13540688211003304 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 135406882110033

Author(s):

Evren Balta ◽

Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser ◽

Alper H Yagci

Keyword(s):

Representative Sample ◽

Political System ◽

The Political ◽

Conspiracy Theories ◽

Popular Support ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Government Propaganda ◽

Populist Party

What happens to the anti-establishment sentiments of pro-incumbent voters for a populist force that is in government and thus controls the political system? This article examines this question utilizing the case of Turkey, a country in which a populist force has been in power for more than a decade. By analyzing populist attitudes among a nationally representative sample, we demonstrate that while the voters of the incumbent populist party (AKP) are less likely, compared to everyone else, to hold populist sentiments, the same voters are also substantially more likely to endorse conspiracy theories that center on malign foreign powers. This finding is relevant beyond Turkey, because it demonstrates that populist forces might be able to maintain popular support and thus stay in power for a long stretch of time by employing government propaganda to fuel an antagonism against conspiratorial foreign and global forces.

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Sharp rise in vaccine hesitancy in a large and representative sample of the French population: reasons for vaccine hesitancy.

10.31234/osf.io/r8h6z ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anne-Sophie Hacquin ◽

Sacha Altay ◽

Emma de Araujo ◽

Coralie Chevallier ◽

Hugo Mercier

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Educational Level ◽

Representative Sample ◽

Vaccine Hesitancy ◽

The Political ◽

French Population ◽

Sharp Rise ◽

Vaccine Refusal ◽

French People ◽

Nationally Representative

A safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is our only hope to decisively stop the spread of the SARS-CoV-2. But a vaccine will only be fully effective if a significant share of the population agrees to get it. Five consecutive surveys of a large, nationally representative sample (N = 1000 for each wave) surveyed attitudes towards a future COVID-19 vaccine in France from May 2020 to October 2020. We found that COVID-19 vaccine refusal has steadily increased, reaching an all-time high with only 23% of participants willing to probably or certainly take a future COVID-19 vaccine in September 2020. Vaccine hesitant individuals are more likely to be women, young, less educated, to vote at the political extremes, to be dissatisfied with the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, and to feel less at risk of COVID-19. The reasons why French people would refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine are similar to those offered for other vaccines, and these reasons are strikingly stable across gender, age and educational level. Finally, most French people declare they would not take the vaccine as soon as possible but would instead rather wait or not take it at all.

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Are misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories for political extremists?

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430220960805 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 583-605

Author(s):

Adam M. Enders ◽

Joseph E. Uscinski

Keyword(s):

The Political ◽

Conspiracy Theories ◽

Political Orientations ◽

Conspiracy Beliefs ◽

Political Left ◽

Identity Based ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

The Relationship ◽

Political Groups ◽

Representative Samples

Extremist political groups, especially “extreme” Republicans and conservatives, are increasingly charged with believing misinformation, antiscientific claims, and conspiracy theories to a greater extent than moderates and those on the political left by both a burgeoning scholarly literature and popular press accounts. However, previous investigations of the relationship between political orientations and alternative beliefs have been limited in their operationalization of those beliefs and political extremity. We build on existing literature by examining the relationships between partisan and nonpartisan conspiracy beliefs and symbolic and operational forms of political extremity. Using two large, nationally representative samples of Americans, we find that ideological extremity predicts alternative beliefs only when the beliefs in question are partisan in nature and the measure of ideology is identity-based. Moreover, we find that operational ideological extremism is negatively related to nonpartisan conspiracy beliefs. Our findings help reconcile discrepant findings regarding the relationship between political orientations and conspiracy beliefs.

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Selecting Our Own Science

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716214557782 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 658 (1) ◽

pp. 172-191 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Sara K. Yeo ◽

Michael A. Xenos ◽

Dominique Brossard ◽

Dietram A. Scheufele

Keyword(s):

Information Seeking ◽

Representative Sample ◽

Media Use ◽

News Article ◽

The Political ◽

Political Ideologies ◽

Scientific Issue ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Media Reports ◽

The U.S

We use an experiment with a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population to examine how political partisans consume and process media reports about nanotechnology—a scientific issue that is unfamiliar to most Americans. We manipulate the extent to which participants receive ideological cues contextualizing a news article, and follow their subsequent information seeking about nanotechnology. Our results provide insights into patterns of media use and how media use differs among people with varying political ideologies. When cues clarifying the political stakes of nanotechnology are made available, individuals are willing to read information from countervailing sources. When such cues are lacking, however, individuals avoid incongruent information and opt for headlines from attitude-consistent sources. We explore variations in the circumstances under which ideological selectivity occurs and demonstrate that both confirmation bias and defensive avoidance are heightened under such conditions.

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Analytic Thinking, Rejection of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Conspiracy Theories, and Compliance with Mandated Social-Distancing: Direct and Indirect Relationships in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adults in the United Kingdom

10.31219/osf.io/nmx9w ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Viren Swami ◽

David Barron

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Representative Sample ◽

Adult Population ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Analytic Thinking ◽

Conspiracy Theories ◽

Social Distancing ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Exploratory Factor Analyses ◽

Nationally Representative

Faced with the threat to physical and mental health posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many nations worldwide have mandated social-distancing measures. However, individual compliance with such measures is likely to be shaped by a range of economic, socio-political, and psychological factors. Here, we proposed and tested a mediation model in which rejection of COVID-19 conspiracy theories mediates the relationship between analytic thinking and compliance with mandated social-distancing measures. A nationally representative sample of the adult population in the United Kingdom (N = 520, age M = 45.85 years) completed a previously-validated measure of analytic thinking, as well as novel measures of rejection of COVID-19 conspiracy theories and compliance with mandated social-distancing requirements that were in place in the United Kingdom in early April 2020. Exploratory factor analyses indicated that both novel measures were unidimensional with adequate internal consistency. Inter-correlations between scores on all three measures were significant and positive. Mediation analysis indicated that analytic thinking and rejection of COVID-19 conspiracy theories, respectively, were significantly and directly associated with compliance, and that the mediated association was also significant. These results may have important implications for practical policy aimed at promoting greater compliance with mandated social-distancing.

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Inexperienced or anti-establishment? Voter preferences for outsider congressional candidates

Research & Politics ◽

10.1177/20531680211034958 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 205316802110349

Author(s):

Eric R. Hansen ◽

Sarah A. Treul

Keyword(s):

Political System ◽

Congressional Elections ◽

Factorial Experiment ◽

Mechanical Turk ◽

The Political ◽

Voter Preferences ◽

Follow Up Studies ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Elected Office

Do US voters prefer inexperienced candidates? Candidates who have never held elected office before have had greater success in recent presidential and congressional elections. However, it could be that voters prefer the type of anti-establishment rhetoric that such candidates use more than the lack of experience itself. We conduct a 2x2 factorial experiment that manipulates a fictitious congressional candidate’s experience and rhetoric toward the political system. Results from a nationally representative Qualtrics sample and two follow-up studies from Mechanical Turk show that respondents evaluate the candidate more positively when he uses anti-establishment rhetoric instead of pro-establishment rhetoric. Though the findings are mixed, we find weak and inconsistent evidence that respondent prefer inexperienced candidates to experienced ones. The results suggest that outsider candidates receive an electoral boost by using anti-establishment messaging, but that candidates’ political résumés matter less to potential voters.

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