Stranger than Fiction: Voters and Party Leaders in a New Democracy
| Author | Sergiu Gherghina,Paul Tap |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299221087139 |
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Early Results |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299221087139
Political Studies Review
2023, Vol. 21(2) 422 –433
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299221087139
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Stranger than Fiction:
Voters and Party Leaders
in a New Democracy
Sergiu Gherghina1 and Paul Tap2
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.
Keywords
fictitious, knowledge, Romania, party leader, political interest
Accepted: 24 February 2022
Introduction
Research in politics resorts to fictitious politicians to explain several processes and
dynamics. Some studies use experimental designs with fictitious candidates to illustrate
the psychological mechanisms behind candidate evaluation. They find that voters do not
rely on the specific information retrieved from long-term memory to evaluate politicians
(McGraw et al., 1990). The use of fictitious candidates also allows to uncover clear links
between name recognition and higher candidate support (Kam and Zechmeister, 2013) or
the attitudes about maverick politicians (Ditto and Mastronarde, 2009). Other analyses
reveal how candidates’ behaviour in electoral campaign in the form of flattering their
opponents in speeches can influence people’s likelihood to vote for them (Cavazza,
1Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
2Department of International Studies and Contemporary History, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj, Cluj-Napoca,
Romania
Corresponding author:
Sergiu Gherghina, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12
8RT, UK.
Email: sergiu.gherghina@glasgow.ac.uk
1087139PSW0010.1177/14789299221087139Political Studies Review X(X)Gherghina and Tap
research-article2022
Early Results
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