Voters view facts as flexible when it comes to political misinformation
Many voters aren鈥檛 bothered by politicians who misrepresent facts if the statements align with their personal beliefs, recent research suggests.
A study co-authored by Ethan Poskanzer, assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship in the Leeds School of Business, found a disconnect between what people believe to be 鈥渇actual鈥 and what they believe to be 鈥渢rue.鈥
The study, published in July 2024 in the American Journal of Sociology, gauged voters鈥 reactions to false statements by politicians including former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. It revealed that many people use moral grounds to justify false statements.
鈥淸It] isn鈥檛 because they believe those statements per se, but they view that misinformation as supporting political goals that they believe in,鈥 said Poskanzer.
Principal investigator
Ethan Poskanzer
Collaboration + support
Oliver Hahl (Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business); Minjae Kim (Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business); Ezra W. Zuckerman Sivan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management)
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Facts ignored: The truth is flexible when falsehoods support political beliefs