Stranger than fiction: voters and party leaders in a new democracy

Gherghina, S. and Tap, P. (2023) Stranger than fiction: voters and party leaders in a new democracy. Political Studies Review, 21(2), pp. 422-433. (doi: 10.1177/14789299221087139)

Abstract

Research in politics uses fictitious politicians to explain different processes. In experimental designs, the participants know that these politicians do not exist. However, we know little about what happens when people are not aware about this, and it remains unclear if they distinguish between fictitious and real politicians. Our article aims to explain what makes citizens identify a fictitious party leader. We use individual-level data from a survey conducted in Romania on a probability representative sample. Our analysis tests the extent to which characteristics associated to two opposing groups in society influence the identification of a fictitious party leader. The empirical evidence bears important implications for the literature on political sophistication and for the research emphasizing social desirability bias.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The work for this article was supported in part by the grant PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0460, awarded by the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Gherghina, S., and Tap, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Political Studies Review
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1478-9299
• ISSN (Online): 1478-9302
• Published Online: 18 April 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Political Studies Review 21(2):422-433
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License