Elite belief consistency does not extend to their voters

Evidence

Furthermore, if a legislator is noted for his insistence upon budget-balancing and taxcutting, we can predict with a fair degree of success that he will also tend to oppose expansion of government welfare activities. If, however, a voter becomes numbered within his sphere of influence by virtue of having cast a vote for him directly out of enthusiasm for his tax-cutting policies, we cannot predict that the voter is opposed as well to expansion of government welfare services. Indeed, if an empirical prediction is possible, it may run in an opposing direction, although the level of constraint is so feeble that any comment is trivial. Yet we know that many historical observations rest directly upon the assumption that constraint among idea-elements visible at an elite level is The nature of belief systems in mass publics 241 mirrored by the same lines of constraint in the belief systems of their less visible “supporters.” — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1861

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: pundits routinely assume voters who back a candidate on one issue share all their positions — actually the constraint is feeble or even reversed.
• XREF: connects to: Elites resist cooperating with outcast parties because reputation costs weigh on them, not voters — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 1434