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Category: Project

Description: Abstract: An online survey conducted in the aftermath of a widely-publicized case of misinformation by President Trump (that a “caravan” of asylum seekers from Central America had “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners … mixed in”) in October 2018 provides the first opportunity to delineate and validate three distinct approaches to how and why political misinformation may be effective: (a) strong partisan identification biases voters to believe their standard bearers; (b) (partisan) voters are too lazy to engage in cognitive reflection; and (c) aggrieved partisans are more likely to perceive and appreciate claims that challenge establishment norms. Results indicate that all three of these explanations may operate to make political misinformation effective, at least for misinformation that can be classified as “demagogic bullshit”—statements that norms against stoking popular prejudices as well as norms that promote truth-telling. A general implication is that attempts to combat political misinformation may fail unless they address the fact that aggrieved voters may recognize and appreciate their standard-bearers’ bullshit as such.