Widespread political negativity can break out far faster than elites expect

Evidence

While we have no comparable longitudinal data for an elite sample, the degree of fit between answers to our issue items and congressional roll calls is strong enough to suggest that time correlations for individual congressmen in roll-call choice on comparable bills would provide a fair estimate of the stability of an elite population in beliefs of this sort. It is probably no exaggeration to deduce that, in sharp contrast to a mass sample, eighteen out of twenty congressmen would be likely to take the same positions on the same attitude items after a two-year interval. In short, then, we feel very confident that elite-mass differences in levels of constraint among beliefs are mirrored in elite-mass differences in the temporal stability of belief elements for individuals. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1935 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Elite political beliefs are far more temporally stable than mass beliefs — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1935

Broader Connections

• Elite political beliefs are far more temporally stable than mass beliefs #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1935