Information, Misinformation, and Political Participation

Abstract

This research addresses the extent to which political participation is a function of misinformation. A large body of work links information with participation, but relatively few authors have addressed the relationship between misinformation and participation. We use data from a 1997 random-digit-dial survey of 810 adults in San Diego to test the hypothesis that misinformation (confident beliefs in false facts) is associated with political participation even after controlling for other explanations, including information. We find that while both misinformation and information tend to increase participation levels, their specific impacts vary. This research ends a period of speculation by presenting empirical evidence of misinformed participation for the first time in the literature.