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The Cultural Orientation of Mass Political Opinion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2011

John Gastil ,
Don Braman ,
Dan Kahan  and
Paul Slovic
John Gastil
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Don Braman
Affiliation:
George Washington University
Dan Kahan
Affiliation:
Yale University
Paul Slovic
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
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Extract

Most Americans lack any substantial degree of ideological sophistication (Kinder 1998), yet they often manage to express coherent views across a range of issues. The conventional explanation for this is that people rely on judgmental shortcuts (e.g., Sniderman, Brody, and Tetlock 1991). These “heuristics” permit individuals with sufficient political sophistication to sort and filter incoming messages to form relatively consistent views that align with preexisting values (Zaller 1992).

Type
Symposium
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 711 - 714
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2011

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