.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
Return
The Moderates
.png){kind=icon}
PRE
AI
DOI：10.1017/S0003055424001333.png)
.png){kind=icon}
Original request for help.png){kind=icon}
Share.png){kind=icon}
Save
Abstract
En 中文
Many Americans express a mix of conservative and liberal views across issues. Prior research indicates these voters are cross-pressured. A recent, influential article Moderates (Fowler et al. 2023) argues that these voters instead largely have centrist views on individual issues. To reach this conclusion, Moderates develops a method to determine which voters' views are well-summarized by liberal-conservative ideology. Moderates finds that most voters' views are. It therefore concludes that the large number of such voters with centrist estimated ideologies-moderates-must hold centrist views on issues. We show that this method systematically overstates how many voters' views are well-summarized by liberal-conservative ideology: it assumes voters' views are unless they either answer questions randomly or form a single cluster with distinctive views. In simulations, we show this problem is large. The article's core conclusion that many voters who express a mix of conservative and liberal views can be inferred to support centrist policies therefore remains in doubt.
Journal
IF:
5.8
Papers:
8.7K
Citations:
2.1W
