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Why can’t a politician give a straight answer?

Eric Barker
June 7, 2010

Because being ambiguous works:

Candidates often make ambiguous statements about the policies they intend to pursue. In theory, ambiguity affects how voters make choices and who wins elections. In practice, measurement and endogeneity problems have impeded empirical research about the consequences of ambiguity. We conducted survey experiments that overcame these obstacles by manipulating a common form of ambiguity: the imprecision of candidate positions. Our data show that, on average, ambiguity does not repel and may, in fact, attract voters. In nonpartisan settings, voters who have neutral or positive attitudes toward risk, or who feel uncertain about their own policy preferences, tend to embrace ambiguity. In partisan settings, voters respond even more positively to ambiguity; they optimistically perceive the locations of ambiguous candidates from their own party without pessimistically perceiving the locations of vague candidates from the opposition. We further find, through analysis of two additional new data sets, that candidates often takeâand voters frequently perceiveâambiguous positions like the ones in our experiments. The pervasive use of ambiguity in campaigns fits with our experimental finding that ambiguity can be a winning strategy, especially in partisan elections.

Source: The Electoral Implications of Candidate Ambiguity” from American Political Science Review (2009), 103:83-98 Cambridge University Press

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Post Information
Title Why can’t a politician give a straight answer?
Author Eric Barker
Date June 7, 2010 9:11 PM UTC (13 years ago)
Blog bakadesuyo
Archive Link https://theredarchive.com/blog/bakadesuyo/why-cant-a-politician-give-a-straight-answer.17075
https://theredarchive.com/blog/17075
Original Link https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2010/06/why-cant-a-politician-give-a-straight-answer/
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