Abstract

A large body of literature has demonstrated how citizens use party endorsements when shaping their policy opinions. However, recent studies question the centrality of party cues in shaping public opinion. This study advances the literature with a four‐wave panel survey design that measures citizens’ policy opinions before, during and after a controversial policy proposal to ban street begging was made by the Norwegian government in 2014. Two main findings inform previous work. First, voters are modestly affected by party cues as the proposition turns salient. Second, when a party shifts their policy position on a highly salient issue, voters do not automatically shift their opinions accordingly. Thus, the magnitude and direction of opinion change in the electorate indicate that party cue effects are modest and that instead of polarizing patterns across time parallel publics moving in the same direction independent of party cues are detected. These findings demonstrate that under some conditions, voters’ opinion formation is less dependent on partisan elites than much of the previous work indicates.

Highlights

  • In democratic theory, the link between the political elite’s policy positions and public opinion is a key concern

  • To further understand how party cues shape public opinion in a real-world setting, this study has examined a policy proposal to criminalize street begging that was high on the political agenda in the Norwegian public debate in 2014 and 2015

  • The results indicate that parties play a role in shaping citizens’ opinions, they face considerable constraints, speaking to a more moderate role for party cues in explaining citizen opinion change when compared to the findings in much of the previous literature (e.g., Zaller 1992; Chong & Druckman 2007; Seeberg et al 2017)

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Summary

Åsta Dyrnes Nordø*

A large body of literature has demonstrated how citizens use party endorsements when shaping their policy opinions. Recent studies question the centrality of party cues in shaping public opinion. The magnitude and direction of opinion change in the electorate indicate that party cue effects are modest and that instead of polarizing patterns across time parallel publics moving in the same direction independent of party cues are detected. These findings demonstrate that under some conditions, voters’ opinion formation is less dependent on partisan elites than much of the previous work indicates

Introduction
The Policy Proposal to Criminalize Street Begging
DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϭρ
Diff low saliencehigh salience
The Effect of a Party Policy Shift on Partisan Policy Support
Discussion and Implications
Findings
Support for a ban on street begging
Full Text
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