Persuasion by Changing Voters’ Issue Priorities

One reason popular reforms like expanding universal gun background checks or legal immigration reform fail to be enacted may be because opponents to these reforms see them as higher priority issues than supporters. Given that those who care deeply about an issue are more likely to vote, donate, or engage politically based on the issue, lawmakers may be more responsive to passionate minority opponents than to passive majority supporters, especially when these differences are polarized along partisan lines. However, specific issue priorities that divide partisans remains unclear, as well as whether—and how—voters can be persuaded to shift their issue priorities. Political scientist Alexander Kustov will examine voters’ stated priority of various issues and whether these priorities can change and be depolarized when presented with factual information. He will conduct a three-wave survey experiment for his study.