We underestimate the influence of the political parties
New research from Aarhus University reveals that political parties have greater influence on the public opinion than was previously thought.
2012.07.07 |
Rune Slothuus was recently named the winner of the Roberta Sigel Award from the International Society of Political Psychology for his latest results. Photo: Julia Rolsted Stacey.
Are political parties the cause of what people think, or is it the other way round? For more than 50 years, political science researchers have pondered the question of how much influence the political parties have on opinions formed by the general public. New research from Aarhus University, Business and Social Sciences, indicates that some of the earlier studies of political parties may well have underestimated the influence these parties exert on public opinion.
Associate Professor Rune Slothuus, PhD, at the Department of Political Science and Government, Aarhus University, is the man behind the new survey. He explains that it is generally very difficult to get to grips with the question as the parties sometimes adapt their policies and messages to match what the voters already think.
"Therefore, you cannot simply assume that if the Danish Liberal Party's supporters agree with a proposal from this party, it is an expression of the party's success in convincing its supporters," explains Rune Slothuus.
In his new experiments – and in contrast to earlier research – Rune Slothuus has allowed for the fact that many citizens are familiar with their party's political positions before they participate in surveys and experiments.
In this way, reality interacts with the experimental stimulus that is applied to the participants. "This is an aspect that is important to bear in mind in order to be able to assess the overall influence on the general public," explains Rune Slothuus. His research findings show that some of the earlier experiments underestimated the importance of the political parties in the formation of opinions.
"This means that the political parties have greater influence on people's opinions than we previously thought," says Rune Slothuus.
He predicts that it will be possible to use the new results to interpret previous studies of the influence of the parties from a new perspective. They can also be used when preparing new studies.
"In the article, I present a new approach to assessing how reality impacts results from experiments. I hope that other researchers will adopt this method," concludes Rune Slothuus.
Facts
Rune Slothuus has recently been named the winner of the Roberta Sigel Award from the International Society of Political Psychology for his conference paper entitled "Assessing the Influence of Political Parties on Public Opinion: The Challenge from Pretreatment Effects". The award will be officially presented in Chicago in July.
Contact
Rune Slothuus
Associate Professor, PhD
Aarhus University, Business and Social Sciences
Department of Political Science and Government
Mail: slothuus@ps.au.dk
Tel. +45 87 16 56 91
