Attributional Differences Amongst the Politically Knowledgeable: How Political Knowledge Impacts the Causal Determination of Mass Shootings

Abstract

We know a lot about the underlying characteristics which effect the causal attributions individuals make. The current literature emphasizes the effect partisanship has on whether people make internal or external attributions. However, most of this literature ignores individual differences within parties. As such, the literature finds that Democrats are more likely to give external attributions while Republicans are driven by internal ones. Most argue that this partisan distinction leads to differing policy positions. This paper uses logistic regression on national survey data to show how political knowledge changes the likelihood of partisan attributional belief. The more knowledgeable partisans are, the more likely they are to make casual attributions which reinforce their policy preferences.