Partisan bias and citizen satisfaction, confidence, and trust in the U.S. Federal Government

Morgeson III, Forrest V.; Sharma, Pratyush Nidhi; Sharma, Udit; Hult, G. Tomas M.

doi:10.1080/14719037.2021.1945667

Cited by 25Public Policy and Administration ResearchElectoral Systems and Political ParticipationE-Government and Public Services

Partisan bias and citizen satisfaction, confidence, and trust in the U.S. Federal Government

Morgeson III, Forrest V., Sharma, Pratyush Nidhi, Sharma, Udit, Hult, G. Tomas M.·2022·Public Management Review

DOI 10.1080/14719037.2021.1945667

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Abstract

While the U.S. federal government has adopted myriad initiatives mandating collection of citizen evaluations of its services, scant research exists into how prior biases such as those arising from political partisanship affect these performance metrics. In this study, we examine a multi-year sample asking U.S. citizens about their experiences with federal government services (n = 8,341). Guided by motivated reasoning theory, the results show that partisanship affects citizen satisfaction, confidence, and trust in the federal government during both Democratic (2015–2016) and Republican (2017–2018) presidential administrations. However, the results indicate an asymmetric ‘president-in-power’ effect, complicating efforts to interpret this data dynamically and over time as power changes hands.

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Self-identified conservatives are more likely than liberals to exhibit the 'President-in-power' effect, that is, to trust the government more when their own party holds the White House.
“self-identified conservatives are more likely than liberals to exhibit the aforementioned ‘President-in-power’ effect; that is, to trust the government more when their own party (versus the other party) holds the White House161,186,187.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [187]

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Authors: Morgeson III, F. V., Sharma, P. N., Sharma, U., & Hult, G. T. M.
Affiliations: Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
University of Alabama (US)
Michigan State University (US)
ORCID: Sharma, Pratyush Nidhi
Sharma, Udit
Hult, G. Tomas M.
Venue: Public Management Review
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2021-07-05
Volume: 24
Issue: 12
Pages: 1933-1956
ISSN: 1461-667X (ISSN-L)
1471-9037
1471-9045
DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2021.1945667
OpenAlex: W3179808358
Cited by: 25
References: 59
Citations by year: 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3
FWCI: 4.87
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Public Management Review (publishedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › E-Government and Public Services
Keywords: partisanship, citizen satisfaction, public trust in government, government performance evaluation, motivated reasoning, United States government

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Partisan bias and citizen satisfaction, confidence, and trust in the U.S. Federal Government

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