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When Do Politicians Pursue More Policy...
Journal article

When Do Politicians Pursue More Policy Information?

Abstract

Abstract We conducted a field experiment with 334 Canadian Members of Parliament exploring whether politicians seek out more information about an issue when they are farther offside the average opinion in their constituency on that issue. In the midst of a contentious national debate on the oil industry, we invited MPs and their staff to watch a webinar or read a written summary of the webinar created by experts and containing a variety of viewpoints on the issue. For politicians on either side, the information could prove useful in future debate and conversation. Some politicians were randomly assigned to information about the distribution of opinion in their constituency on the issue. We find no evidence that politicians are more likely to pursue policy information when they are offside their average constituency opinion, and none that this effect is enhanced when they learn about their relative position vis-a-vis constituency preferences.

Authors

Loewen PJ; Rubenson D; McAndrews JR

Journal

Journal of Experimental Political Science, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 216–224

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Publication Date

January 1, 2022

DOI

10.1017/xps.2020.42

ISSN

2052-2630

Labels

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