Cross-party perspective getting, identity, and support for electoral fairness: who can persuade?

A worrisome characteristic of polarization in the United States is public ambivalence, or even opposition, to democratic norms such as fair elections. Past research has found that perspective getting – outparty individuals sharing experiences about how they are affected by norm violations – can reduce support for anti-democratic election laws and practices. I argue, though, that the impact of a cross-party perspective getting appeal can hinge on the demographic identity of the messenger. When messenger and receiver have different partisan identities, but share other identities, a perspective getting message is more effective than when messenger and receiver have multiple dissimilar identities. I assess this argument through experiments where partisans are presented real-life scenarios of their own party violating election norms. Treatment consists of viewing a short perspective getting testimonial from an outparty member. Multiple conditions, with perspective givers of different demographic identities, are used. Results suggest that white respondents are most likely to reduce support for unfair election practices when presented a perspective getting appeal from a white outpartisan. Response to perspective getting, though, also varies based on partisan and issue context. Overall, this study suggests that the pro-democracy effects of perspective getting can hinge on message, messenger, and receiver characteristics.