Public Opinion Under Autocracy

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel presents new empirical research on public opinion under autocracy. The past 20 years have witnessed a revolution in the study of autocracy. The most revolutionary work in this area has focused on institutions and regime dynamics at the elite level. But in recent years, scholars have devoted more attention to political behavior under autocracy. This shift reflects a renewed interest in the mass basis of autocratic rule. And yet, much research in this area continues to be hamstrung by poor data quality and an incomplete understanding of public opinion formation under autocracy. Under autocracy, public opinion is heavily influenced by propaganda and censorship, while survey data itself may be tainted by preference falsification. The papers on this panel demonstrate ways to overcome these hurdles and advance the study of public opinion under autocracy. A paper by Ashley Blum, for example, examines why many Russians choose to consume state propaganda, even though they know it is biased. Buckley, Marquardt, Reuter and Tertychnaya study the causes of preference falsification in Russian public opinion surveys. Han, Liu, and Truex, meanwhile, use word association tests to shed new light on complex, sensitive political question in China. Finally, Letsa, uses survey data from Cameroon and social network analysis to study why opposition supporters choose to participate in politics.

Sub Unit

• Division 44: Democracy and Autocracy

Individual Presentations

• Word Association Tests for Political Science - Rory Truex, Princeton University; Ze Han, Princeton University; Naijia Liu, Princeton University

• Preference Falsification in Authoritarian Regimes: Evidence from Russia - Ora John Reuter, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Katerina Tertytchnaya, University College London; Noah Buckley, Higher School of Economics; Trinity College Dublin; Kyle L. Marquardt, University of Bergen

• Choosing Propaganda: Understanding News Selection in Russia - Ashley Blum, UCLA

• The Autocratic Citizen: Political Socialization and Partisanship in Autocracies - Natalie Wenzell Letsa, University of Oklahoma

Chair

• Jennifer Gandhi Emory University

Discussants

• Bryn Rosenfeld Cornell University

• Quintin H. Beazer Florida State University