What drives political support? Evidence from a survey experiment at the onset of the corona crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID6050262
AuthorsJulian Erhardt (0000-0002-4705-8889, University of Bern, corresponding author), Michel Freitag (0000-0003-2428-0652, University of Bern), Steffen Wamsler (0000-0003-1768-3226, University of Bern), Maximilian Filsinger (0000-0002-6583-8301, University of Bern)
Year2022
Volume28
Issue4
Pages429-446
Publication date2022-08-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-9775 • E-ISSN: 1469-3631
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13569775.2021.2010345
OpenAlexW4206558473
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited49

In times of severe crises, citizens are frequently found to rally-'round-the-flag – i.e. to increase trust in their government. Drawing on an original survey experiment with real-world information at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, we portray the saliency of rally-relevant issues of the crisis. Contrary to our expectation, this priming effect lowers governmental trust. Mediation analyses show that respondents are more trusting towards their in-group, but simultaneously display less pride in institutions and less positive attitudes towards the political elite, which leads to a reduction in governmental trust. Our study shows that crises do not always lead to a rally-'round-the-flag effect – it crucially depends on whether people consider their democratic institutions capable of coping with the crisis. Moreover, our findings demonstrate the need to unravel the black box of the rally-effect to get a more accurate picture of the driving forces behind governmental trust during crises

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Covert · Democracy · Elite · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Pride · Priming (agriculture · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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