Does sophistication increase partisan bias? : Evidence from a cross-national analysis

Patkós, Veronika and Szántó, András (2021) Does sophistication increase partisan bias? : Evidence from a cross-national analysis. European Politics and Society, 22 (3). pp. 359-373. ISSN 2374-5118

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Abstract

Recently, considerable theoretical literature has emerged on voters’ sophistication and its effect on democratic functioning. Some works argue that the political choices of more sophisticated voters lead to more favourable social outcomes (Brennan, 2017; Somin, 2016). However, Achen and Bartels (2016) argue that sophisticated citizens are at least as biased as the unsophisticated. This paper aims to clarify this link by investigating the role of education, information acquisition, and interest on bias. The question is tested on European Social Survey data. The results show that the level of bias is independent of education but is significantly related to both interest and newspaper reading. The findings fully support the interpretation of Achen and Bartels (2016) on the effect of sophistication.

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