Political scandal involves allegations of corruption or unethical behavior that erode citizen trust in politicians and in democratic governance. These scandals are often uncovered through investigative journalism, where journalists conduct thorough research and expose wrongdoing that may not otherwise be brought to light. They serve a vital role by holding officials accountable, increasing transparency within government, and prompting needed reforms. However, they can also have long-term implications on democracy and governance in modern society, contributing to cynical public discourse and devaluing the concept of corruption as a morally unacceptable behavior.
A new analysis of the effects of political scandals offers important lessons for those who study and try to prevent them. Wioletta Dziuda and William G. Howell of the University of Chicago report that scandals on their own are a poor proxy for misbehavior, and the scope of particular political scandals is largely influenced by the degree of polarization in a given political system. Moreover, they find that accusations of political misbehavior are less effective when politicians and parties deny them.
They review previous studies of political scandals and show that they generally produce negative evaluations of a politician, but that the extent of these effects varies greatly depending on five central moderators: citizens’ prior views/attitudes, the severity of the scandal, the type of scandal, and the response strategy employed by a politician (e.g., denial versus apology). These results suggest that future research should explore the effects of scandals using panel designs that allow for repeated measurement over time and the use of pre-existing baseline data in addition to scandalous information to improve validity.
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