Can Partisan Voters be Nudged to Endorse Political Compromise?

• In Event: Threats to Democracy and Democratic Norms

Abstract

In the abstract, Americans widely claim to support political compromise, as well as many democratic principles that facilitate functional governance. Yet, many who support these principles in the abstract do not support them in practice, instead favoring uncivil partisan rivalry. In recent years, the diffusion of political incivility from elites to the mass public, as well as growing affective polarization, have contributed to a climate in which elected officials must cater to extreme voters or risk electoral defeat. While many elected officials realize the importance of a return to regular order in the policymaking process, the current climate inhibits this possibility. As Senator Jeff Flake aptly stated in during the confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh, “There’s no currency for [bipartisanship] anymore. There’s no incentive.” In this paper, we use a survey experiment to investigate ways in which the mass public may be nudged to accept political compromise with partisan opponents during the policymaking process.

Authors

• Steven Sparks, University of Oklahoma

• Pamela Johnston Conover, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill