2018/10/08 by Rasmus T. Pedersen, Rasmus T Pedersen, Martin Vinæs Larsen +1
Arts and Humanities · Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Philosophy and History of Science #Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
paper · doi:10.1093/ijpor/edy020
openalex publication_date 2018/10/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
Abstract Numbers are ubiquitous in modern political communication and discussions. The relationship between numbers and policy attitudes is therefore a key issue for public opinion research. This article explores the degree to which voters can translate their ideological predispositions into numerical policy preferences. Further, we theorize and investigate how numerical framing can affect this translation of ideology into numerical preferences. Using a survey experiment, we show that voters’ ideological differences are reflected in their numerical preferences, but that they are also highly affected by numerical framing, specifically gain–loss framing and unit framing. These results have implications for our theoretical understanding of framing effects, and they suggest that politicians can markedly affect the attitudes of voters through strategic use of numerical framing.