Replication data for study: 'Martyrs for free speech? Disentangling the effects of legal prosecution of anti-immigration politicians on their electoral support'

Data and replication code for study 'Martyrs for free speech? Disentangling the effects of legal prosecution of anti-immigration politicians on their electoral support'.

Abstract:
Several anti-immigration politicians in Europe have been prosecuted for hate speech; some of these trials were highly mediatized. To what extent, and how, does hate speech prosecution of anti-immigration politicians affect voting for their party? We address this question by an experiment (N = 372) using manipulated versions of a television news story about a politician of the Dutch party Forum for Democracy (FvD). We go beyond prior studies by disentangling the mechanisms driving the electoral ramifications of hate speech prosecution, assessing the moderating role of multiculturalist attitudes separately and in combination with six mediators (anti-establishment attitudes, issue salience immigration, perceived party’s effectiveness and legitimacy, support for free speech, and perceived party visibility). Among voters who are positive toward multiculturalism, exposure to a news story about prosecution boosts support for free speech and perceived visibility and support for the FvD. Both aspects are positively related to voting for FvD. This improves our understanding of the mechanisms of hate speech prosecution, informing public debates of how to react to controversial speech by politicians.

研究《言论自由的殉道者？厘清反移民政客遭法律起诉对其选举支持的影响》的数据集与复制代码

摘要：
欧洲有多位反移民政客因仇恨言论被起诉，其中部分审判受到高度媒体关注。反移民政客因仇恨言论遭起诉，会在多大程度上以及如何影响其所在政党的选票？为解答这一问题，我们开展了一项实验（N=372），使用经过操纵的荷兰民主论坛党（Forum for Democracy, FvD）某政客的电视新闻报道版本。我们超越先前研究之处在于，厘清了驱动仇恨言论起诉选举影响的机制，并分别评估了多元文化主义态度的调节作用，以及其与六个中介变量（反建制态度、移民议题显著性、感知到的政党有效性与合法性、言论自由支持度、感知到的政党可见度）的联合调节作用。在对多元文化主义持积极态度的选民中，接触有关起诉的新闻报道会提升其言论自由支持度、感知到的政党可见度以及对FvD的支持。这两方面（指提升的言论自由支持度与感知到的政党可见度）均与对FvD的投票行为呈正相关。本研究深化了我们对仇恨言论起诉机制的理解，为如何应对政客争议性言论的公众辩论提供了参考。