Guisinger and Saunders Flashcards
What do Guisinger and Saunders (2017) seek to understand about elite cues?
They examine when and how elite messages influence public opinion on international issues, focusing on whether message content or messenger identity (partisanship) matters more.
What two characteristics of public opinion shape how elite messages influence it?
1) Non-agreement with elite opinion (how many don’t already agree)
2) Partisan polarization on the issue.
What is the “Information Hypothesis”?
If an issue has low polarization and high non-agreement, messages from any source—nonpartisan or partisan—can shift opinion toward the expert view.
What is the “Partisan Hypothesis”?
If an issue is already polarized, only same-party partisan messages influence public opinion; opposing or neutral cues are ineffective.
What is the “Mixed Hypothesis”?
When polarization and non-agreement are both moderate, both partisan and nonpartisan messages can influence opinion—but partisan identity will still shape the response.
Why are Guisinger and Saunders concerned about external validity in elite cue experiments?
Because most experiments use a single issue, they may not capture how variation across issues affects whether elite messages are persuasive.
What are the two roles elite messages can play in shaping opinion?
They can convey information (substance of policy) or act as partisan heuristics (who said it), especially when the issue is polarized.
Why is the control group not considered a blank slate in this study?
Because people already hold predispositions or have prior exposure to information that shapes their response—even before the experiment.
What’s unique about their research design?
They use nine issues in a single survey, varying attribution (generic, Democratic, Republican) while keeping the message constant.
How are issues categorized in the study?
Primarily Informational (e.g., WTO, Syria): low polarization, high non-agreement
Primarily Partisan (e.g., Iran, Cap & Trade): high polarization
Mixed (e.g., ICSID, China Pivot): moderate polarization and disagreement
What did they find for informational issues?
All messages (partisan and nonpartisan) moved opinion in the same direction, regardless of respondent’s party.
What happened with partisan issues?
Only in-party cues shifted opinions; out-party or generic expert cues had no effect.
What about mixed issues?
Both generic and in-party cues could shift opinion, but out-party cues were ineffective.
What broader implication does their study offer?
That the effectiveness of elite cues depends on issue context, and public opinion is not uniformly responsive across topics.
