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Reality Bites: The Limits of Framing Effects for Salient and Contested Policy Issues

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  • Bechtel, Michael M.
  • Hainmueller, Jens
  • Hangartner, Dominik
  • Helbling, Marc

Abstract

A large literature argues that public opinion is vulnerable to various types of framing and cue effects. However, we lack evidence on whether existing findings, which are typically based on lab experiments involving low-salience issues, travel to salient and contentious political issues in real-world voting situations. We examine the relative importance of issue frames, partisan cues, and their interaction for opinion formation using a survey experiment conducted around a highly politicized referendum on immigration policy in Switzerland. We find that voters responded to frames and cues, regardless of their direction, by increasing support for the position that is in line with their pre-existing partisan attachment. This reinforcement effect was most visible among low knowledgeable voters that identified with the party that owned the issue. These results support some of the previous findings in the political communication literature, but at the same time also point toward possible limits to framing effects in the context of salient and contested policy issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Bechtel, Michael M. & Hainmueller, Jens & Hangartner, Dominik & Helbling, Marc, 2015. "Reality Bites: The Limits of Framing Effects for Salient and Contested Policy Issues," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 683-695, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:pscirm:v:3:y:2015:i:03:p:683-695_00
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    2. Shane P Singh & Meili Swanson, 2017. "How issue frames shape beliefs about the importance of climate change policy across ideological and partisan groups," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Kashner, Daniel & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2024. "Preempting polarization: An experiment on opinion formation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    4. Sarrasin, Oriane & Fasel, Nicole & Green, Eva G. T. & Helbling, Marc, 2015. "When sexual threat cues shape attitudes toward immigrants: the role of insecurity and benevolent sexism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6, pages 1-1.
    5. Kantorowicz, Jaroslaw & Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, Elena, 2023. "Enhancing Public Support for International Sanctions," OSF Preprints a2dyq, Center for Open Science.
    6. Ariane Wenger & Michael Stauffacher & Irina Dallo, 2021. "Public perception and acceptance of negative emission technologies – framing effects in Switzerland," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-20, August.
    7. Syon P. Bhanot & Daniel J. Hopkins, 2020. "Partisan polarization and resistance to elite messages: Results from survey experiments on social distancing," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(2).
    8. Dieter Dekeyser & Henk Roose, 2022. "Polarizing policy opinions with conflict framed information: activating negative views of political parties in a multi-party system," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1121-1138, June.

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