Are public opinion polls self-fulfilling prophecies?
David Rothschild and Neil Malhotra ask whether polls become self-fulfilling prophecies by producing a bandwagon effect, and note that the existing empirical literature on the bandwagon effects of polls is surprisingly limited. They randomly assigned a diverse national sample to receive information about different levels of support for three public policies. Public opinion as expressed through polls affected individual-level attitudes, although the size of the effect depended on issue characteristics.
David Rothschild and Neil Malhotra ask whether polls become self-fulfilling prophecies by producing a bandwagon effect, and note that the existing empirical literature on the bandwagon effects of polls is surprisingly limited. They randomly assigned a diverse national sample to receive information about different levels of support for three public policies. Public opinion as expressed through polls affected individual-level attitudes, although the size of the effect depended on issue characteristics.
Written from the abstract as shown on the DOAJ record, read 2026-10-28.
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Rothschild, D., & Malhotra, N. (2014). Are public opinion polls self-fulfilling prophecies? Research & Politics, 1(2). doi:10.1177/2053168014547667 https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168014547667