Discounting constituent attitudes: motivated reasoning, ambiguity, and policymaker perceptions of constituent characteristics

In experimental work, researchers have found that policymakers discount the opinions of constituents with whom they disagree. We build on these results with a national sample of local policymakers in the United States, exploring whether communicators can prevent policymakers from discounting their opinions by providing evidence of their own knowledge about a topic. We find that policymakers discount the opinions of hypothetical constituents with whom they disagree, but there is evidence that providing unambiguous evidence about a letter-writer’s positive traits can reduce this discounting. We conclude with a discussion of implications for theory as well as practical implications for communicating with policymakers.