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Motivated Reasoning, Political Sophistication, and Associations between President Obama and Islam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

Todd K. Hartman  and
Adam J. Newmark
Todd K. Hartman
Affiliation:
Appalachian State University
Adam J. Newmark
Affiliation:
Appalachian State University
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Abstract

Recent polls reveal that between 20% and 25% of Americans erroneously indicate that President Obama is a Muslim. In this article, we compare individuals' explicit responses on a survey about religion and politics with reaction time data from an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to investigate whether individuals truly associate Obama with Islam or are motivated reasoners who simply express negativity about the president when given the opportunity. Our results suggest that predispositions such as ideology, partisanship, and race affect how citizens feel about Obama, which in turn motivates them to accept misinformation about the president. We also find that these implicit associations increase the probability of stating that Obama is likely a Muslim. Interestingly, political sophistication does not appear to inoculate citizens from exposure to misinformation, as they exhibit the same IAT effect as less knowledgeable individuals.

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PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , July 2012 , pp. 449 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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