Elite Manipulation of Democratic Values in the Mass Public

• In Event: Constituents and Representation

Abstract

The public’s perception of the fairness of an election rule is an important determinant of popular support for that rule. As a result, the public’s democratic values act as a constraint on party elite attempts to manipulate election rules for their own partisan benefit. However, the effectiveness of this constraint would be lessened if party elites are able to manipulate what the public considers fair. There are two possible mechanisms by which this manipulation could occur. First, elites could change the public’s perception of whether a given fairness value matches up with a given election rule. Party elites could induce citizens to associate a positive value with an election reform for which they would like to increase support. Second, elites could attempt to directly change which fairness values people prioritize or endorse. This study tests both mechanisms using survey experiments. In one survey respondents are presented with party elite messages attempting to change the values they associate with certain election reforms. In a second survey, respondents are given party elite messages attempting to change the democratic values that they prioritize in general. These experiments find that elites are able to influence opinion on voting policy issues regardless of the values they associate with the policy, but are unable to directly affect the values that citizens prioritize.

Author

• Devin McCarthy, University of Oklahoma