456617095f5040a6…

Preprint
ID: 5d7bf7ebd0706700120e05242,849 bytesFirst seen Jun 24, 20261 collection

Fields

NameValue
abstractThe military institution enjoys consistently high levels of public confidence, making it one of the most respected entities in American society. However, this aggregate trend conceals an underlying polarization among partisans, who arrive at different conclusions over the institutional quality of the military. What explains the divide? This analysis argues a partisan bias resulting from (1) exposure to different information about the military and (2) different cognitive biases in using that information to render an opinion on institutional quality. Using observational data on news media reporting patterns and original text-as-data processed through unsupervised machine learning techniques, I find that partisans during a key phase of the Iraq War were exposed to widely different types information on military performance. Furthermore, I find through original survey experimentation that when presented with information on negative performance by the military, partisans adopt very different sensibilities in how that information is used to evaluate it.
abstractViews1757
approvedDate2019-09-17T13:21:31.902Z
assetFileNameWho_Follows_The_Generals___APSA_2019.pdf
assetFileSizeBytes1069662
assetMimeTypeapplication/pdf
assetUrlhttps://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524/original/who-follows-the-generals-polarization-in-institutional-confidence-in-the-military.pdf
authorIds["orcid:0000-0002-4558-9520"]
categoryIds["5ce663395846762193c9c424"]
citations0
commentsCount0
communityIdAPSA
competingInterestsDeclarationnull
contentDownloads949
contentTypeWorking Paper
contentTypeId5ce663395846762193c9c430
doi10.33774/apsa-2019-vsmfn
doiUrlhttps://doi.org/10.33774/apsa-2019-vsmfn
engageUrlhttps://www.cambridge.org/engage/coe/article-details/5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524
eventIdnull
funders[]
gainedEthicsApprovalnull
hasCompetingInterestsnull
isLatestVersiontrue
keywords["civil-military relations","public opinion","machine learning","media","national security","trust in institutions","foreign policy","partisan polarization"]
licenseId5cc9d9bf7d4e0000ac04ef27
publishedDate2019-09-17T13:21:31.918Z
statusPUBLISHED
statusDate2019-09-17T13:21:31.918Z
subjectId5e68cb1bd1f19d49ce3ac752
submittedDate2019-09-13T20:35:46.954Z
supplementaryFiles[]
thumbnailUrlhttps://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524/mediumThumb/who-follows-the-generals-polarization-in-institutional-confidence-in-the-military.jpg
titleWho Follows the Generals? Polarization in Institutional Confidence in the Military
version1
vornull
webLinks[]

Canonical JSON

{
  "id": "5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524",
  "type": "Preprint",
  "data": {
    "abstract": "The military institution enjoys consistently high levels of public confidence, making it one of the most respected entities in American society. However, this aggregate trend conceals an underlying polarization among partisans, who arrive at different conclusions over the institutional quality of the military. What explains the divide? This analysis argues a partisan bias resulting from (1) exposure to different information about the military and (2) different cognitive biases in using that information to render an opinion on institutional quality. Using observational data on news media reporting patterns and original text-as-data processed through unsupervised machine learning techniques, I find that partisans during a key phase of the Iraq War were exposed to widely different types information on military performance. Furthermore, I find through original survey experimentation that when presented with information on negative performance by the military, partisans adopt very different sensibilities in how that information is used to evaluate it. ",
    "abstractViews": 1757,
    "approvedDate": "2019-09-17T13:21:31.902Z",
    "assetFileName": "Who_Follows_The_Generals___APSA_2019.pdf",
    "assetFileSizeBytes": 1069662,
    "assetMimeType": "application/pdf",
    "assetUrl": "https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524/original/who-follows-the-generals-polarization-in-institutional-confidence-in-the-military.pdf",
    "authorIds": [
      "orcid:0000-0002-4558-9520"
    ],
    "categoryIds": [
      "5ce663395846762193c9c424"
    ],
    "citations": 0,
    "commentsCount": 0,
    "communityId": "APSA",
    "competingInterestsDeclaration": null,
    "contentDownloads": 949,
    "contentType": "Working Paper",
    "contentTypeId": "5ce663395846762193c9c430",
    "doi": "10.33774/apsa-2019-vsmfn",
    "doiUrl": "https://doi.org/10.33774/apsa-2019-vsmfn",
    "engageUrl": "https://www.cambridge.org/engage/coe/article-details/5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524",
    "eventId": null,
    "funders": [],
    "gainedEthicsApproval": null,
    "hasCompetingInterests": null,
    "isLatestVersion": true,
    "keywords": [
      "civil-military relations",
      "public opinion",
      "machine learning",
      "media",
      "national security",
      "trust in institutions",
      "foreign policy",
      "partisan polarization"
    ],
    "licenseId": "5cc9d9bf7d4e0000ac04ef27",
    "publishedDate": "2019-09-17T13:21:31.918Z",
    "status": "PUBLISHED",
    "statusDate": "2019-09-17T13:21:31.918Z",
    "subjectId": "5e68cb1bd1f19d49ce3ac752",
    "submittedDate": "2019-09-13T20:35:46.954Z",
    "supplementaryFiles": [],
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/5d7bf7ebd0706700120e0524/mediumThumb/who-follows-the-generals-polarization-in-institutional-confidence-in-the-military.jpg",
    "title": "Who Follows the Generals? Polarization in Institutional Confidence in the Military",
    "version": "1",
    "vor": null,
    "webLinks": []
  }
}

Appears in 1 collection

cambridge-up/open-engage1 version · Jun 24, 2026

Full hash:456617095f5040a6be9bb1baa82fab4c0d13e5ebc8f05c6e1ee79876e2797e6c