IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v25y2024i1p42-62.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public perceptions and misperceptions of political authority in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • Florian Stoeckel

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy & Anthropology, 3286University of Exeter, Exeter, UK)

  • Vittorio Mérola

    (School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, Durham, UK)

  • Jack Thompson

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy & Anthropology, 3286University of Exeter, Exeter, UK)

  • Benjamin Lyons

    (Departmenmt of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA)

  • Jason Reifler

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy & Anthropology, 3286University of Exeter, Exeter, UK)

Abstract

How do citizens understand political authority within multi-level systems? We use original survey data from six European Union member states to assess the roles of political identity and interest in shaping citizen attitudes towards political authority in the European Union. We find that citizens with a greater interest in politics are more likely to express views on the authority of the European Union. These individuals are less likely to be uninformed. Interest does not necessarily mean that individuals hold correct perceptions. A substantive number of voters are misinformed about the power of Brussels. We find that citizens with an exclusively national identity are more likely to hold misperceptions than those who think of themselves as both members of their nation and as Europeans.

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Stoeckel & Vittorio Mérola & Jack Thompson & Benjamin Lyons & Jason Reifler, 2024. "Public perceptions and misperceptions of political authority in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(1), pages 42-62, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:1:p:42-62
    DOI: 10.1177/14651165231193833
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14651165231193833
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14651165231193833?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:1:p:42-62. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.