Replication Data for: Going Public in an Era of Social Media: Tweets, Corrections, and Public Opinion

Presidents invariably use the bully pulpit to push a political agenda, but whether this leads to political success in advancing that agenda has long been the subject of debate. The increased reliance on social media has renewed that debate, particularly in light of new policies that flag or remove objectionable presidential content. This research conducts a survey experiment that evaluates the effect of presidential tweets on support for executive policies, including proposed unilateral action, and studies the effect of social media corrections of those tweets. We find little evidence that social media appeals move public opinion overall, although they do increase support among Republicans. Corrections generally worked as intended among Democrats but backfired among Republicans, cancelling each other out in the aggregate. The findings offer important insights into the efficacy of going public on social media and of corrections to such claims in an era of stark partisan polarization.

总统们往往会借助强力讲台（bully pulpit）推行自身的政治议程，但这类举措能否助力议程的政治推进，长期以来都是学界争论的核心议题。随着社交媒体依赖程度的加深，这场争论再度升温，尤其是在针对标记或移除有争议总统内容的新规出台后。本研究开展了一项调查实验（survey experiment），评估总统推文对公众支持行政政策（包括拟议的单边行政举措）的影响，并探讨了针对这些推文的社交媒体纠错行为所产生的效应。研究发现，整体而言几乎没有证据表明社交媒体宣传攻势能够改变公众舆论，不过这类宣传确实能提升共和党选民的政策支持率。纠错行为在民主党选民中基本达到预期效果，但在共和党选民中却适得其反，整体上两者相互抵消。在党派极化愈发显著的当下，该研究结果为社交媒体公开发声的成效，以及针对这类言论的纠错行为提供了重要启示。