TY - JOUR

T1 - How political malpractice affects trust in EU institutions

AU - van Elsas, Erika J.

AU - Brosius, Anna

AU - Marquart, Franziska

AU - De Vreese, Claes H.

PY - 2020/6/6

Y1 - 2020/6/6

N2 - Political misconduct is known to harm the politicians involved. Yet, we know less about how such events affect trust in political institutions. We study a real-world political malpractice affair in the European Commission, using a three-wave panel design to investigate how information about the affair influences trust in EU institutions. This enables us, first, to isolate the impact of new information on political trust, remedying endogeneity issues common in political trust research. Second, we assess which institutions are affected most (specificity) and whether effects depend upon citizens’ sophistication levels (conditionality). Finally, we assess the durability of effects over time. Our findings demonstrate that citizens obtain knowledge about EU affairs through the media, and use this knowledge in their trust evaluations. In doing so, citizens differentiate between EU and national institutions, with trust in the European Commission affected most. This suggests a sophisticated process and highlights the evaluative nature of political trust.

AB - Political misconduct is known to harm the politicians involved. Yet, we know less about how such events affect trust in political institutions. We study a real-world political malpractice affair in the European Commission, using a three-wave panel design to investigate how information about the affair influences trust in EU institutions. This enables us, first, to isolate the impact of new information on political trust, remedying endogeneity issues common in political trust research. Second, we assess which institutions are affected most (specificity) and whether effects depend upon citizens’ sophistication levels (conditionality). Finally, we assess the durability of effects over time. Our findings demonstrate that citizens obtain knowledge about EU affairs through the media, and use this knowledge in their trust evaluations. In doing so, citizens differentiate between EU and national institutions, with trust in the European Commission affected most. This suggests a sophisticated process and highlights the evaluative nature of political trust.

KW - EU institutions

KW - media effects

KW - panel study

KW - political scandal

KW - Political trust

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074361519&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2019.1667654

DO - 10.1080/01402382.2019.1667654

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85074361519

VL - 43

SP - 944

EP - 968

JO - West European Politics

JF - West European Politics

SN - 0140-2382

IS - 4

ER -