PARTISAN DIFFERENCES IN EVALUATIONS OF THE ECONOMY
GHEORGHE H. POPESCUABSTRACT. This paper aims to analyze and discuss partisan voters as individuals who tend to see what they want to see, partisan divergence in assessments of the national economy, the effect of partisanship in economic perceptions, the link between subjective evaluations of the economy and public opinion, and the influence of partisanship on economic evaluations. My paper contributes to the literature by providing evidence on the predictive power of economic performance, the impacts of rising economic inequality, the underlying mechanisms that translate economic conditions into subjective perceptions, and the persistence of partisanship and its ability to shape perceptions. pp. 130–135
JEL Classification: D72, F59, H11
Keywords: partisanship, economic perception, vote choice, political behavior