Political scandal is the public exposure of unethical behavior by government leaders and institutions. Whether resulting from investigations, leaks, or media coverage, scandals usually spark outrage among citizens and can have significant political consequences, such as leaders losing elections or new laws being enacted.
The effects of political scandal are the focus of a wide array of studies, ranging from surveys and experiments to meta-analyses and theoretical frameworks. Although most of the scholarly literature is concentrated in political science and psychology, researchers from a variety of crosscutting disciplines (e.g., communication research) have also contributed to the understanding of political scandals and their effects.
Despite the vast amount of literature on political scandal, important gaps remain. For example, very little is known about the role of contextual factors (e.g., the nature and severity of the norm transgression or case) in determining how the public perceives scandalous information.
Another important gap is the lack of a comprehensive model that can explain how different types of scandals may affect citizens’ evaluations of politicians. While the vast majority of studies on political scandals reveal negative evaluative effects, there is considerable variation in the scope of these effects. This is partly due to the fact that there are several key moderators, including the nature and extent of the scandalous information, citizens’ previous views/attitudes and context, as well as their overall levels of trust in and cynicism about politicians. Furthermore, the relationship between partisanship and political scandal remains relatively understudied.
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