In experimental work, researchers have found that policymakers discount the opinions of constituents with whom they disagree. We build on these results with a national sample of local policymakers in the United States, exploring whether communicators can prevent policymakers from discounting their opinions by providing evidence of their own knowledge about a topic. We find that policymakers discount the opinions of hypothetical constituents with whom they disagree, but there is evidence that providing unambiguous evidence about a letter-writer’s positive traits can reduce this discounting. We conclude with a discussion of implications for theory as well as practical implications for communicating with policymakers.

中文翻译：

---

贴现选民态度：动机推理、模糊性和政策制定者对选民特征的看法

在实验工作中，研究人员发现，政策制定者会忽视与他们不同意见的选民的意见。我们以美国地方政策制定者的全国样本为基础，探索传播者是否可以通过提供他们自己对某个主题的了解的证据来防止政策制定者低估他们的观点。我们发现政策制定者会低估他们不同意的假设选民的观点，但有证据表明，提供有关写信人积极特质的明确证据可以减少这种折扣。最后我们讨论了理论意义以及与政策制定者沟通的实际意义。