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Ignorance is Bliss? Age, Misinformation, and Support for Women's Representation

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  • Barry C. BURDEN
  • ONO Yoshikuni

Abstract

Most people overestimate how many women have been elected in Congress and state legislatures, but this misinformation reduces with age. Multivariate analysis of our original survey data confirms that young people are prone to overestimating how many seats are held by women, and this pattern is especially sharper among male respondents. In addition, a memory of being represented by a woman in the past tends to inflate overestimates further. Erroneous thinking among the young may produce an "ignorance is bliss" effect by reducing the apparent need to elect more women to office and raising levels of trust in government. In contrast, more realistic beliefs among older people makes the dominance of men in public office more apparent and actionable.

Suggested Citation

  • Barry C. BURDEN & ONO Yoshikuni, 2020. "Ignorance is Bliss? Age, Misinformation, and Support for Women's Representation," Discussion papers 20066, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:20066
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    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/20e066.pdf
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    1. Richard R. Lau & David J. Andersen & David P. Redlawsk, 2008. "An Exploration of Correct Voting in Recent U.S. Presidential Elections," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 395-411, April.
    2. Prior, Markus & Sood, Gaurav & Khanna, Kabir, 2015. "You Cannot be Serious: The Impact of Accuracy Incentives on Partisan Bias in Reports of Economic Perceptions," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 10(4), pages 489-518, December.
    3. Markus Prior & Arthur Lupia, 2008. "Money, Time, and Political Knowledge: Distinguishing Quick Recall and Political Learning Skills," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 169-183, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anli Jiang & Zhengxu Wang & Tony Huiquan Zhang, 2022. "Radicalizing and Conservatizing: Ageing Effects on Political Trust in Asia, 2001–2016," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 665-681, July.

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