Political Parties and Perceptions of Election Fraud in the U.S.

Abstract

This paper uses a series of survey experiments to assess what individuals understand about election fraud and under what circumstances they see it as a problem. I argue that political parties are central to answering both these questions. Results from the 2011 CCES survey suggest respondents are able to differentiate accurately between the relative incentives of Democrats and Republicans where fraud tactics are concerned, but whether voters see these tactics as problematic is heavily influenced by partisan bias. These results provide limited evidence for motivated reasoning based on accuracy goals (Taber and Lodge 2006) and more compelling evidence for motivated reasoning based on partisan goals that are shaped by party cues rather than values (Kam 2005).

Keywords: election fraud, party id, motivated reasoning