A political scandal is when government officials engage in unethical and illegal behavior that harms the public, resulting in loss of trust, decreased voter confidence, and increased cynicism about political processes. While politicians may try to cover up their misbehavior or even lie about it, the media is often the first to uncover it and can play a critical role in how these events are perceived by citizens.
While many people think that political scandal is a rare occurrence, it is actually quite common. In the United States, political scandals often result in recriminations, reforms to governance and oversight, and shape the debate about how ethical conduct can affect government performance. They can also taint the public’s view of other countries and other institutions, revealing a dark side of democracy and creating a perception that politics is fundamentally corrupt.
The research on the effects of political scandals is extensive and diverse, spanning a number of fields, including psychology, communication, and political science. Overall, studies show that scandalous information regularly results in negative evaluations of politicians, but that these effects can differ substantially depending on five central moderators: candidate characteristics, politician’s response strategy, citizens’ previous views/attitudes, contextual aspects, and type of scandal. Moreover, political polarization is an important contextual variable that influences the effectiveness of scandalous information. A partisan scandal will cause voters to evaluate the party involved as dishonest if there is a high probability that the opposing party knew about the behavior and chose not to expose it.