Political Parties, Motivated Reasoning, and Public Opinion Formation

A key characteristic of democratic politics is competition between groups, first of all political parties. Yet, the unavoidably partisan nature of political conflict has had too little influence on scholarship on political psychology. Despite more than 50 years of research on political parties and citizens, we continue to lack a systematic understanding of when and how political parties influence public opinion. We suggest that alternative approaches to political parties and public opinion can be best reconciled and examined through a richer theoretical perspective grounded in motivated reasoning theory. Clearly, parties shape citizens' opinions by mobilizing, influencing, and structuring choices among…

• AU
  Aarhus Universitet
• AU
  Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond
• DF
  Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond