Polarization and Nuclear Fear: How Partisan Message Processing Affects Public Trust in Government

Abstract

Scholars have found that an environment that appears increasingly polarized in the United States has been accompanied by a decline in institutional trust over several decades. Scholarship involving partisanship and trust suggests that out-party groups are less receptive to political messages than in-groups. In the wake of the false emergency alert in Hawaii that sent citizens into a panic for 38 minutes, messaging and nuclear issues remain a salient topic for study. This thesis presents the results of an experiment (N = 2,310) investigating how political trust is influenced by the partisan interpretation of a message. Survey respondents were presented with treatment messages from varied political sources and then asked a posttest question regarding diffuse trust in government. Results demonstrate that partisanship is a strong factor that affects how people interpret a message, even in the event of a large-scale disaster. The findings suggest that partisanship and preferences for or against authoritarianism influence trust and message interpretation.