Does motivated reasoning harm democratic accountability? Substantial evidence from political behavior research indicates that voters have “directional motives” beyond accuracy, which is often taken as they are ill equipped to hold politicians accountable. We develop a model of electoral accountability with reasoners. Directional motives two effects: (1) divergence —voters different preferences ...

Abstract Are people more likely to (mis)interpret information so that it aligns with their ideological identity when relying on feelings compared engaging in analytical thinking? Or is the other way around: Does deliberation increase propensity confirm existing political views? In a behavioral experiment, participants ( n = 1207, Swedish sample) assessed numerical concerning effects of gender q...