Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Decision Justification Strategies on Citizen Perceptions of Government

Abundant literature documents a range of factors that shape citizen perceptions of government. However, attention to how the justification of a policy decision shapes citizen perceptions remains limited. In this study, we consider how justifications influence citizen trust and legitimacy through a 2 × 2 × 2 pre-registered factorial survey experiment that manipulates justification strategy, policy position, and policy type. Results indicate that opposing positions reduce trust and legitimacy while the context of a highly polarized policy has the opposite effect. Emotive-based strategies decrease trust but do not affect legitimacy. Further, the effect of a supportive or opposing position varies by level of policy polarization.