Public Approval, Policy Issues, and Partisanship in the American Presidency

Examining the 2019–2020 Trump Impeachment and Acquittal

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12377907
AutoresMeena Bose (0000-0002-9075-4177, Hofstra University, autor de correspondencia), Charla M Burnett (0000-0003-3273-2786, Hofstra University)
Año2021
Volumen55
Número2
Páginas266-274
Fecha de publicación2021-12-06
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPS Political Science & Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1049-0965 • E-ISSN: 1537-5935
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s104909652100144x
OpenAlexW4200492312
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas20

Although much of the United States undoubtedly was aware of the impeachment hearings and trial for President Donald Trump in 2019–2020, the extent to which information about those events influenced the public remains unknown. Building on scholarship about public opinion and democratic governance, we attempted to fill this knowledge gap through a unique survey. We asked half of our sample to answer three factual questions pertaining to Trump’s first impeachment trial. We ran a quasi-experiment on the other half, trying to influence their view of the trial by informing them of the same three facts that we asked the first group. The quasi-experiment demonstrates that support for acquittal was largely static and that partisanship strongly influences whether the public accepts the veracity and importance of political information. Consequently, civic knowledge today appears to have a limited—perhaps even nonexistent—effect on public attitudes about American politics

Acquittal · Democracy · Impeachment · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Presidential system · Public opinion · Scholarship · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics