Political scientist | political behaviour | comparative politics | survey research | data analysis

Publications

In Search of the “Deliberative Citizen”: Deliberative Principles in Germans’ Everyday Political Talk (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2026.

Starting from the premise that deliberative democracy requires a “congruent” political culture constituted by “deliberative citizens,” we study individuals’ self-beliefs about the extent to which they adhere to a broad range of deliberative maxims when discussing politics in their everyday lifeworld. Drawing on a unique survey, we demonstrate the unidimensionality of stances toward deliberative core principles for treating the substance under discussion (reason-giving, opinion change, openness) and for interacting with conversation partners (listening, understanding, empathy, respect). Defining deliberative citizens as those simultaneously acknowledging all these virtues allows us to estimate their share of the citizenry. We find that their proportion is not sufficient to speak of a “congruent” political culture. Certain sociodemographic backgrounds, political motivations and skills, and general personality traits emerge as important correlates. Conflict orientations are the most powerful predictor, but their effect is counterintuitive. Conflict seekers appear more appreciative of deliberation than conflict-averse persons do.

Recommended citation: Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger and Schnaudt, Christian. 2026. "In Search of the “Deliberative Citizen”: Deliberative Principles in Germans’ Everyday Political Talk." Politische Vierteljahresschrift (online first). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11615-026-00666-6

A Political History Forecast of Bloc Support in the 2025 German Federal Election (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: PS: Political Science & Politics, 2026.

What if citizens feel that election outcomes are the result of electoral manipulation and fraud rather than the outcome of a genuinely democratic process? Do they still obey the laws and regulations of newly elected governments, or do they refuse to give governments their allegiance? Analyzing individual-level survey data from Germany, this study sheds light on the nexus between electoral integrity perceptions and compliance. It shows that citizens who perceive the integrity of elections as compromised are more likely to view election-related non-compliance justified. Moreover, citizens´ views concerning the fairness of elections and the justifiability of election-related non-compliance matter for their law-abiding behavior in other domains: Those who consider the electoral process fraudulent and election-related non-compliance justifiable adhere less often to governmental regulations pertaining to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings entail important implications for effective democratic governance and questions of electoral backsliding and democratic erosion more generally.

Recommended citation: Quinlan, Stephen, Schnaudt, Christian, and Lewis-Beck, Michael (2026). "A Political History Forecast of Bloc Support in the 2025 German Federal Election." PS: Political Science & Politics 59 (1), 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096525000204

Perceptions of electoral integrity and election-related (non-)compliance: Evidence from Germany (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Political Studies, 2024.

What if citizens feel that election outcomes are the result of electoral manipulation and fraud rather than the outcome of a genuinely democratic process? Do they still obey the laws and regulations of newly elected governments, or do they refuse to give governments their allegiance? Analyzing individual-level survey data from Germany, this study sheds light on the nexus between electoral integrity perceptions and compliance. It shows that citizens who perceive the integrity of elections as compromised are more likely to view election-related non-compliance justified. Moreover, citizens´ views concerning the fairness of elections and the justifiability of election-related non-compliance matter for their law-abiding behavior in other domains: Those who consider the electoral process fraudulent and election-related non-compliance justifiable adhere less often to governmental regulations pertaining to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings entail important implications for effective democratic governance and questions of electoral backsliding and democratic erosion more generally.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2025). "Perceptions of electoral integrity and election-related (non-)compliance: Evidence from Germany." Political Studies 73 (3), 1292-1314. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217241290584

Conspiracy beliefs and perceptions of electoral integrity: Cross-national evidence from 29 countries (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Public Opinion Quarterly, 2024.

Extant research shows that belief in conspiracy theories and conspiratorial thinking are negatively related to citizens´ perceptions about the fairness and integrity of elections. However, by exclusively focusing on the United States as only one important empirical case, previous studies have left unanswered crucial questions on the scope, generalizability, and context dependency of their empirical findings. In this research note, I aim to fill this void by providing first empirical evidence on the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and electoral-integrity perceptions across twenty-nine countries. Using high-quality individual-level data from the European Social Survey enriched with contextual-level data on the quality of elections taken from the Varieties of Democracy Project, the findings from linear mixed-effects regression models reveal that (1) conspiracy beliefs are negatively related to citizens´ evaluations concerning the integrity of national elections; (2) the specific strength of the observed individual-level relationship varies substantially across countries; and (3) the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and individual electoral-integrity perceptions depends on the contextual-level quality and integrity of elections across countries. Specifically, the results indicate that the negative relationship between conspiracy beliefs and electoral-integrity perceptions is strongest in contexts in which the actual quality of elections is high, and in which citizens have little reason to (seriously) doubt the integrity of the electoral process. These findings provide an important and hitherto missing cross-national and multilevel perspective on the nexus between individual conspiracy beliefs and electoral-integrity perceptions, highlighting that the “conspiratorial challenge” to electoral legitimacy in contemporary democracies is real and more than an “American affliction.”

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2024). "Conspiracy beliefs and perceptions of electoral integrity: Cross-national evidence from 29 countries." Public Opinion Quarterly 88 (SI), 814-827. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfae027

Revisiting norms of citizenship in times of democratic change (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Politics, 2024.

Over the last two decades, scholars have investigated norms of citizenship by focusing primarily on “dutiful” and “engaged” norms. In the meantime, contemporary democracies have witnessed growing demands for more sustainable styles of living and increasing public support for authoritarian and populist ideas. These developments point to both a change and an expansion of conventional understandings and conceptions of what a “good citizen” in a democratic polity ought to do. Specifically, they raise questions about whether demands for more sustainability and increasing support for populist ideas establish new facets of democratic citizenship, and if so, how they can be meaningfully incorporated into existing images of citizenship. This study provides a re-conceptualization of citizenship norms and empirically tests a new measurement instrument using original data collected in Germany in 2019. The empirical application of an expanded set of items demonstrates the existence of more variegated facets of norms of citizenship, including norms to safeguard a sustainable future and distinct populist facets emphasizing the relevance of trust in authorities and experts as well as reliance on feelings and emotions. Contemporary conceptions of citizenship thus go beyond conventional distinctions between dutiful and engaged norms of citizenship.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian, van Deth, Jan W., Zorell, Carolin, and Theocharis, Yannis (2024). "Revisiting norms of citizenship in times of democratic change." Politics 44(3), 352-369. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F02633957211031799

Electoral integrity and voting: The interplay of individual perceptions and contextual conditions (chapter in edited volume)

Published in: Informationsflüsse, Wahlen und Demokratie, edited by Thorsten Faas, Sascha Huber, Mona Krewel, and Sigrid Rossteutscher, 2023.

Elections and citizens´ participation in the electoral process are at the heart of representative democracy. In the absence of free and fair elections, citizens lack a meaningful opportunity to take part in the selection of political representatives and, hence, are deprived of an effective means to influence the direction of public policies in their country. Elections and voting thus fulfill an important legitimizing function that is indispensable for the long-term viability of modern democratic systems. Despite its overall relevance for democratic well-being, the nexus between the integrity of the electoral process and citizens´ inclination to participate in elections has been largely overlooked in extant research. Against this background, our study aims to shed new light on how the integrity of the electoral process and individual perceptions about the proper conduct of elections are related to citizens´ voting behavior. In doing so, the study contributes to the extant literature in at least three distinct ways: First, it provides a more comprehensive analysis than previous research by simultaneously considering both individual-level electoral integrity perceptions and countries´ actual, contextual-level electoral integrity as antecedents of individual citizens´ participation in elections. Second, it highlights the micro-macro conditionality of electoral integrity by arguing that the relevance of individual-level electoral integrity perceptions as determinants of citizens´ voting behavior depends on the actual, contextual-level electoral integrity of a country. Third, it offers a more encompassing empirical test than previous studies by analyzing information from 130,000 individual survey respondents from WVS and EVS, covering a total of 75 countries over a period of eleven years (2011-2021). Results show that individual perceptions concerning the proper conduct of elections constitute a decisive factor in citizens´ voting calculus. Second, there is no direct effect of a country´s contextual-level electoral integrity on individual voting behavior. Third, the impact of individual-level electoral integrity perceptions on citizens´ propensity to vote is conditioned by the actual electoral integrity across contexts. Specifically, individual perceptions are more relevant for citizens´ voting calculus when the actual quality of the electoral process is high.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian and Wolf, Christof (2023). "Electoral integrity and voting: The interplay of individual perceptions and contextual conditions." In Thorsten Faas, Sascha Huber, Mona Krewel, and Sigrid Rossteutscher (eds), Informationsflüsse, Wahlen und Demokratie. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 485-512. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748915553-485

Sowing the seeds of skepticism? Electoral-integrity beliefs among political elites (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Electoral Studies, 2023.

Elections in many democracies have come under attack “from within”, with political elites challenging the integrity of the electoral process and calling its outcomes into question. Such allegations may delegitimize democratic outcomes and compromise citizens´ confidence in elections. Yet aside from their rhetoric, little is known about political elites´ electoral-integrity beliefs. This study breaks new ground by investigating how political elites perceive the integrity of elections, and which factors may account for differences in their electoral-integrity beliefs. Using innovative data from the 2021 candidate survey of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), the empirical analysis shows that political candidates exhibit mostly positive views about the integrity of the electoral procedures and the 2021 election, while being more skeptical about the fairness of the campaign period. Moreover, the findings show that negative campaign experiences, an affiliation with a populist political party, and electoral defeat are important drivers of candidates´ skepticism about the integrity of elections. These findings provide novel insights on the nature, background, and diagnostic significance of political elites´ electoral-integrity beliefs in modern democracies.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2023). "Sowing the seeds of skepticism? Electoral-integrity beliefs among political elites." Electoral Studies 84 (August), 102654. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379423000768

How procedural and economic performance shape political trust: Affective and cognitive foundations of the performance-trust nexus (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 2023.

In which ways and under what conditions do the procedural and economic performance of political systems matter for citizens´ political trust? While this question has been a recurring theme in research on political support, we still lack a clear understanding of the conditional nature of the performance-trust nexus. In this study, we focus on the affective and cognitive foundations of the performance-trust nexus, arguing that the impact of objective procedural and economic performance on political trust is conditioned by citizens´ political allegiances (i.e., status as electoral winner or loser) and political sophistication (i.e., political knowledge and political interest). Our empirical analysis using comparative survey data from two European high-quality surveys (European Election Study 2014 and European Social Survey 2002–2018) shows that procedural and economic performance feature particularly prominently in the trust calculus of politically more knowledgeable and interested citizens as well as electoral losers, while being less relevant for the political trust of less sophisticated citizens and electoral winners. Moreover, the analysis provides evidence that cognitive orientations are overall more important than affective ones in moderating the performance-trust nexus. These findings offer important implications concerning the nature and meaning of feelings of disenchantment and distrust in contemporary democracies.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian and Popa, Sebastian A. 2023. "How procedural and economic performance shape political trust: Affective and cognitive foundations of the performance-trust nexus." Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft 17 (1), 31-57. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12286-023-00570-y

Political Talk and the Triad of Democratic Citizenship (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 2023.

Deliberative democracy´s core practice of political discussion is often claimed to entail beneficial ´self-transformative´ effects on those partaking in it. We examine the assumption that political talk makes for ´better citizens´ with a special focus on individuals´ orientations toward democracy and their own roles within it. We conceptualize these orientations as a triad of democratic citizenship that encompasses three pillars: (1) the attitudinal dimension of citizens´ support for the democratic political system whose members they are, (2) the normative dimension of views about ´good´ citizenship, and (3) the behavioral dimension of active participation in this system´s political process. Our analysis offers a comprehensive perspective at how these orientations are affected by engagement and disagreement in political talk across four discursive spheres: (i) informal conversations of a private nature within strong network ties (family and friends), (ii) of a semi-public nature within weak network ties (acquaintances), and (iii) of a public nature outside social networks (strangers), as well as (iv) formalized public discussions at organized events. Drawing on two high-quality surveys from Germany, we find overall positive effects of engagement in informal-private conversations and formalized public discussions on citizenship orientations. The role of semi-public political talk within weak ties appears ambivalent, but its impact is overall rather weak. Strikingly, we observe strong indications that casual conversations with strangers weaken people´s support for the democratic system, participatory norms, and likelihood of active political engagement. Disagreement during political conversations also matters for democratic orientations, and its effects are always positive.

Recommended citation: Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger and Schnaudt, Christian. 2023. "Political Talk and the Triad of Democratic Citizenship." Journal of Deliberative Democracy 19 (1), 1-17. https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1359/

Everyday Political Talk with Strangers: Evidence on a Neglected Arena of the Deliberative System (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2023.

According to normative theorists, informal conversations between strangers are the most basic manifestation of the political public sphere and truest to the deliberative democratic ideal. Yet systematic empirical evidence on citizens´ everyday political talk outside their social networks is largely missing. Using a unique survey, we examine citizens´ access to the public discursive sphere of political talk with strangers, as well as the frequency and disagreeableness of the conversations held in this arena of the deliberative system. Although widespread and frequent engagement is desirable from a normative point of view, we find this discursive sphere to be considerably smaller in scope and less vibrant than the private and semi-public discursive spheres of political talk within strong and weak network ties. Contrary to theorists´ equation of strangeness with difference, political conversations between strangers also appear rather harmonious. Furthermore, our findings show that psychological dispositions, most notably social trust and conflict orientations, are important drivers of individuals´ involvement in political conversations with strangers. Their impact exceeds the influence of political dispositions, opportunities, and skills. Some aspects of our results raise doubts about the deliberative quality of these conversations.

Recommended citation: Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger and Schnaudt, Christian. 2023. "Everyday Political Talk with Strangers: Evidence on a Neglected Arena of the Deliberative System." Politische Vierteljahresschrift 64 (3), 499-523. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11615-023-00462-6

Mind the gap(s): Winning, losing, and perceptions of electoral integrity in mixed-member proportional systems (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Electoral Studies, 2023.

This study investigates whether and how experiences of winning and losing at the ballot box shape voters´ views about the integrity of the electoral process in Germany´s mixed-member proportional system. Relying on comprehensive data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) 2021, the analysis provides evidence for a consistent winner-loser gap in voters´ electoral-integrity perceptions, with electoral losers evaluating the electoral process systematically more negative than electoral winners. Moreover, the analysis shows that the winner-loser gap is particularly pronounced for voters who lost in two consecutive federal elections (´repeated losers´) as well as for those who suffered electoral defeat with both their list and district votes (´double losers´). These findings provide novel insights on how voters in mixed-member proportional systems cope with winning and losing at the ballot box, highlighting that electoral losers place (part of) the blame for their electoral defeat on the electoral process and procedures as such. In addition, the findings point to the relevance of specific features of electoral systems in shaping winner-loser gaps in electoral-integrity beliefs.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2023). "Mind the gap(s): Winning, losing, and perceptions of electoral integrity in mixed-member proportional systems." Electoral Studies 83 (June), 102611. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379423000331

The GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 in Hindsight: Experiences Gained and Lessons Learned (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2023.

The GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 was a pilot project aimed at demonstrating that registered reports are an appropriate and beneficial publication format in quantitative political science that helps to increase transparency and replicability in the research process and thus yields substantial and relevant contributions to our discipline. The project resulted in the publication of this special issue, which includes seven registered reports based on data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) collected in the context of the 2021 German federal election. This concluding article of the special issue brings together the perspectives of the participating authors, reviewers, organizers, and editors in order to take stock of the different experiences gained and lessons learned in the course of the project. We are confident that future projects of a similar nature in political science, as well as authors, reviewers, and editors of registered reports, will benefit from these reflections.

Recommended citation: Bucher, Hannah, Anne-Kathrin Stroppe, Axel M. Burger, Thorsten Faas, Harald Schoen, Marc Debus, Sigrid Roßteutscher, Denis Cohen, Robert A. Huber, Michael Jankowski, Melvin John, Jan Menzner, Christian H. Schimpf, Christian Schnaudt, Nils D. Steiner, Richard Traunmüller, Fabienne Unkelbach, Vera Vogel, Carsten Wegscheider, Robert Welz, Alexander Wuttke. 2023. "The GLES Open Science Challenge 2021 in Hindsight: Experiences Gained and Lessons Learned." Politische Vierteljahresschrift 64 (1), 207-219. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11615-022-00437-z

Exit or Voice? Behavioral Implications of Electoral-Integrity Beliefs in Germany (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2023.

Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of representative democracy. In recent years, however, elections in many advanced democracies have increasingly come under attack by populist actors and rhetoric questioning the integrity of the electoral process. While scholarly attention has so far largely focused on expert surveys measuring and documenting the objective integrity of different elections, a thorough understanding of citizens’ electoral-integrity beliefs and their implications for political behavior is still lacking. Against this background, the present study investigates the impact of electoral-integrity beliefs on citizens’ political behavior in Germany. Specifically, the study aims to assess the influence of electoral-integrity perceptions on turnout, vote choice, and nonelectoral (institutionalized and noninstitutionalized) political participation in the offline and online spheres. The study’s preregistered empirical analysis based on the preelection survey of the 2021 German Longitudinal Election Study shows that electoral-integrity beliefs entail clear implications for citizens’ turnout and vote choice, while their influence on nonelectoral behavior is contingent upon the specific type and sphere of political participation. These findings provide novel insights on the behavioral implications of electoralintegrity beliefs and extend the (scarce) findings of previous research to (1) a broader political action repertoire as well as (2) the German context. The empirical evidence generated comes with far-reaching implications for the general viability of modern democracies, suggesting that the nexus between electoral-integrity beliefs and political behavior can be a “triple penalty” or a “double corrective” for representative democracy.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian. 2023. "Exit or Voice? Behavioral Implications of Electoral-Integrity Beliefs in Germany." Politische Vierteljahresschrift 64 (1), 79-105. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11615-022-00403-9

Uncovering the flash potential of immigration: attitudes, salience, and far-right support in Europe (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 2022.

Attitudes toward immigrants and immigration are a central explanation for the electoral support of far-right parties. However, while these parties gained strength over the last two decades, European citizens´ views about immigration have not changed much. In this study, we contribute to solving this puzzle by uncovering the flash potential of immigration. With its salience as a politically contested issue increasing, negative yet previously less relevant immigration preferences and evaluations transform more often into politically tangible attitudes and behaviors, such as support for far-right parties. We uncover this flash potential with individual-level ESS data and aggregated measures of issue salience among the public, allowing us to model the conditioning effects of contextual-level immigration salience on the individual-level relationship between immigration attitudes and far-right support. The results from random-effects within-between models analyzing 208,794 individual respondents from 141 country-rounds and 24 countries over the period of 2002-2018 show that the effects of citizens´ attitudes on support for far-right parties are stronger in contexts and periods in which the salience of immigration is higher. Accordingly, while immigration attitudes among the European public have not turned more negative over time, they have become more influential for citizens´ party attachments and vote choices.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian and Stecker, Christian (2022). "Uncovering the flash potential of immigration: attitudes, salience, and far-right support in Europe." International Journal of Public Opinion Research 34 (4), 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edac034

Forecasting Bloc Support in German Federal Elections: A Political-History Model (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: PS: Political Science & Politics, 2022.

In this contribution, we break new ground in structural election forecasting. First, we spurn the dominant-government-versus-opposition paradigm and predict the performance of individual blocs. Although this approach is not new to the structural approach per se, our effort eschews any public-opinion measures. Second, and more innovatively, we focus exclusively on the undermined dimension of a country’s political history. Our model posits that vote share as a function of longer term—if not enduring—political structure variables have potency in predicting. These variables tap profound political events, such as German reunification, “grand-coalition” governance, party dominance in the Länder, and past party strength. This constellation of factors constitutes what we call a political-history model. Such a stance may seem bold until we recall that Germany represents a contemporary beacon of political stability. We demonstrate that this approach yields relatively sound estimates for the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), Social Democratic Party (SPD), and All Others across 18 German Federal Elections over six decades.

Recommended citation: Quinlan, Stephen, Schnaudt, Christian, and Lewis-Beck, Michael. 2022. "Forecasting Bloc Support in German Federal Elections: A Political-History Model." PS: Political Science & Politics 55(1), 91-96. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096521000998

Conducting General Social Surveys as Self-Administered Mixed-Mode Surveys (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Public Opinion Quarterly, 2021.

This article discusses the current challenges of conducting a General Social Survey (GSS) in face-to-face mode and evaluates the alternative of fielding these surveys in self-administered mixed-mode (web, mail) instead. Based on data from Germany, it first illustrates the stark decline of participation in face-to-face surveys since 2002 and reports a strong increase in the cost of conducting these surveys over the same period. It then discusses the possibility of implementing GSS-type surveys in a self-administered design and reports results from a mode experiment implemented in the German part of the European Values Study (EVS) 2017/18. The results of the experiment indicate that self-administered mixed-mode surveys are a viable alternative for cross-sectional general population surveys in Germany; they shorten the fieldwork period and lead to higher response rates, while being more cost-efficient than face-to-face surveys. Despite the finding that the sample composition deviates from the general population in both modes, the face-to-face mode represents the population slightly better.

Recommended citation: Wolf, Christof, Christmann, Pablo, Gummer, Tobias, Schnaudt, Christian, and Verhoeven, Sascha. 2021. "Conducting General Social Surveys as Self-Administered Mixed-Mode Surveys." Public Opinion Quarterly 85(2), 623-648. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfab039

Distributive and procedural justice and political trust in Europe (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Frontiers in Political Science, 2021.

Previous research underlines that a political system’s adherence to principles of distributive and procedural justice stimulates citizens’ political trust. Yet, most of what is known about the relationship between justice and political trust is derived from macro-level indicators of distributive and procedural justice, merely presuming that citizens connect a political system’s adherence to justice principles to their trust in political authorities and institutions. Accordingly, we still lack a clear understanding of whether and how individual perceptions and evaluations of distributive and procedural justice influence citizens’ political trust and how their impact might be conditioned by a political system’s overall adherence to principles of justice. In addition, previous research has implicitly assumed that the link between justice principles and political trust operates identically for all major political authorities and institutions, disregarding the possibility that citizens evaluate representative and regulative authorities and institutions on the basis of different justice criteria. Against this background, the aims of the present study are (1) to investigate the impact of individual evaluations of distributive and procedural justice on citizens’ political trust, (2) to analyze to what extent the effects of justice evaluations on political trust depend on political systems’ overall adherence to principles of distributive and procedural justice, and (3) to assess whether and in which ways the influence of justice evaluations differs for trust in representative and regulative authorities and institutions. Our empirical analysis covering more than 30,000 respondents from 27 European countries based on data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project demonstrates that (1) more positive evaluations of distributive and procedural justice foster citizens’ political trust, that (2) the impact of justice evaluations on political trust is amplified in political systems in which the overall adherence to justice principles is compromised, and that (3) different facets of distributive and procedural justice evaluations exert varying effects on citizens’ trust in representative as compared to regulative authorities and institutions. These findings entail important implications with regard to the relation between justice and political trust and the general viability of modern democratic systems.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian, Hahn, Caroline, and Heppner, Elias (2021). "Distributive and procedural justice and political trust in Europe." Frontiers in Political Science 3:642232, 1-18. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.642232/full

Politisches Wissen und politisches Vertrauen (chapter in edited volume)

Published in: Politisches Wissen in Deutschland. Empirische Analysen mit dem ALLBUS 2018, edited by Markus Tausendpfund and Bettina Westle, 2020.

This chapter deals with the theoretical and empirical relationship between political knowledge and political trust. Based on data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) 2018, the chapter analyzes the impact of political knowledge on the dimensional structure of political trust. In addition, it investigates possible direct and moderating effects of political knowledge on trust in representative and regulative institutions.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2020). "Politisches Wissen und politisches Vertrauen." In Markus Tausendpfund and Bettina Westle (eds), Politisches Wissen in Deutschland. Empirische Analysen mit dem ALLBUS 2018. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 127-164. https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-30492-8_5

Messung politischen Wissens (chapter in edited volume)

Published in: Politisches Wissen in Deutschland. Empirische Analysen mit dem ALLBUS 2018, edited by Markus Tausendpfund and Bettina Westle, 2020.

This chapter deals with the measurement of political knowledge. Based on data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) 2018 and applying non-parametric IRT models, the chapter shows that political knowledge establishes a one-dimensional construct.

Recommended citation: Moosdorf, Daniel, Schnaudt, Christian, Tausendpfund, Markus, and Wesle Bettina (2020). "Messung politischen Wissens." In Markus Tausendpfund and Bettina Westle (eds), Politisches Wissen in Deutschland. Empirische Analysen mit dem ALLBUS 2018. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 55-88. https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-30492-8_3

Explorative Faktorenanalyse und Skalenkonstruktion (chapter in edited volume)

Published in: Fortgeschrittene Analyseverfahren in den Sozialwissenschaften. Ein Überblick, edited by Markus Tausendpfund, 2020.

In order to investigate whether different survey items are suitable for measuring one and the same theoretical construct, researchers regularly rely on (exploratory) factor analysis. This chapter provides an introduction to the general logic of (exploratory) factor analysis. It outlines the analytical steps when applying factor analysis in practice and discusses relevant considerations when combining several question items into a common scale. Factor analysis and scale construction are illustrated using the example of social and political trust based on data from the European Social Survey.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2020). "Explorative Faktorenanalyse und Skalenkonstruktion." In Markus Tausendpfund (ed), Fortgeschrittene Analyseverfahren in den Sozialwissenschaften. Ein Überblick. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 205-242. https://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-30237-5_7

Fieldwork monitoring in practice: Insights from 17 large-scale social science surveys in Germany (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Survey Methods: Insights from the Field, 2020.

This study provides a synopsis of the current fieldwork monitoring practices of large-scale surveys in Germany. Based on the results of a standardized questionnaire, the study summarizes fieldwork monitoring indicators used and fieldwork measures carried out by 17 large-scale social sciences surveys in Germany. Our descriptive results reveal that a common set of fieldwork indicators and measures exist on which the studied surveys rely. However, it also uncovers the need for additional design-specific indicators. Finally, it underlines the importance of a close cooperation between survey representatives and fieldwork agencies to optimize processes in fieldwork monitoring in the German survey context. The article concludes with implications for fieldwork practice.

Recommended citation: Meitinger, Katharina, Sven Stadtmüller, Henning Silber, Roman Auriga, Michael Bergmann, Michael Blohm, Manuela Blumenberg, Pablo Christmann, Barbara Felderer, Corinna Frodermann, Florian Griese, Tobias Gummer, Achim Koch, Anita Kottwitz, Kristina Krell, Ulrich Krieger, Elisabeth Liebau, Silke Martin, Andre Müller-Kuller, Beatrice Rammstedt, Ines Schaurer, Annette Scherpenzeel, Claudia Schmiedeberg, Tobias Schmidt, Christian Schnaudt, Sascha Verhoeven and Anouk Zabal (2020). "Fieldwork monitoring in practice: Insights from 17 large-scale social science surveys in Germany." Survey Methods: Insights from the Field. Retrieved from https://surveyinsights.org/?p=12237. https://surveyinsights.org/?p=12237

Political confidence and democracy in Europe: Antecedents and consequences of citizens’ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities (monograph)

Published in: Contributions to Political Science, Springer International, 2019.

This book examines the antecedents and consequences of citizens’ confidence in different political institutions and authorities. Its main argument states that a distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities is of crucial importance in order to gain novel insights into the relevance of political confidence for the viability of democratic systems. Relying on individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS), the author provides empirical evidence that citizens from a total of twenty-one European countries make a distinction between confidence in representative institutions and authorities and confidence in regulative institutions and authorities. Furthermore, the author shows that both types of political confidence emanate from different sources and are associated with varying consequences. Overall, these findings indicate that confidence in representative and confidence in regulative institutions and authorities establish two qualitatively different types of political confidence, each with distinct implications for the functioning and well-being of modern democracies.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2019). Political confidence and democracy in Europe: Antecedents and consequences of citizens´ confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities. Cham: Springer International. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89432-4

Blaming the young misses the point: Re-assessing young people’s political participation over time using the ‘identity-equivalence procedure’ (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: mda: methods, data, analyses, 2018.

One of the central and constantly recurring features of youth participation studies is the depiction of young people and adolescents as the future of democratic politics. According to previous research, however, young people exhibit generally lower levels of political participation than adults and show decreasing trends in their political activities over time. In this study, we argue that, in order to arrive at meaningful conclusions about young and adult people’s political participation over time, ‘construct-equivalent’ rather than identical instruments of political participation across different age groups and time points should be used. Applying the so called ‘identity-equivalence procedure’ for political participation across three different age groups and the time period 2002-2014 using data from the European Social Survey (ESS), our results indicate that (1) the concrete manifestations of the concept of political participation differ across young and adult people and over time and (2) levels of political participation are quite similar for young and adult people and increasing from 2002-2014. Therefore, the commonly employed strategy of applying identical instruments of political participation across age groups and time points appears at least questionable.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian and Weinhardt, Michael (2018). "Blaming the young misses the point: Re-assessing young people’s political participation over time using the ‘identity-equivalence procedure’." mda: methods, data, analyses 12(2), 309-334. https://doi.org/10.12758/mda.2017.12

Die politische Partizipation Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener in Deutschland. Weniger teilnahmslos und politikverdrossen als gedacht (journal article)

Published in: GWP - Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Politik, 2017.

This article investigates levels and trends in German adolescents´ political participation during the period 2002-2014. A comparison with the adult population shows that a depiction of young people as “disengaged” or “politically apathetic” is clearly misguided.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian, Weinhardt, Michael, and Liebig, Stefan (2017). "Die politische Partizipation Jugendlicher und junger Erwachsener in Deutschland. Weniger teilnahmslos und politikverdrossen als gedacht." GWP - Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Politik 66(2), 189-200. https://doi.org/10.3224/gwp.v66i2.03

Schaffen wir das? Zwischen Akzeptanz und Ablehnung von Immigration in Deutschland und Europa (journal article)

Published in: Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren (ISI), 2017.

This article investigates the levels and determinants of citizens´ attitudes towards immigration in a European comparative perspective. It relies on individual- and contextual-level explanations of immigration attitudes and assesses the relative importance of interested-based, psychological, as well as ideological explanations using data from the European Social Survey 2002 and 2014.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian and Weinhardt, Michael (2017). "Schaffen wir das? Zwischen Akzeptanz und Ablehnung von Immigration in Deutschland und Europa." Informationsdienst Soziale Indikatoren (ISI) 57, 12-16. https://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/upload/forschung/publikationen/zeitschriften/isi/isi-57.pdf

(Um-)Fragen über (Um-)Fragen: Die Entstehung von Umfragedaten am Beispiel des European Social Survey (ESS) (journal article)

Published in: GWP - Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Politik, 2016.

This article illustrates which standards general population surveys should meet in order to provide meaningful and reliable information about the public´s attitudes and behaviors. It uses the European Social Survey (ESS) as an example of a particularly well-designed (cross-national) population survey.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian, Weinhardt, Michael, and Liebig, Stefan (2016). "(Um-)Fragen über (Um-)Fragen: Die Entstehung von Umfragedaten am Beispiel des European Social Survey (ESS)." GWP - Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Politik 65(2), 189-198. https://doi.org/10.3224/gwp.v65i2.24016

From seeing the writing on the wall, to getting together for a bowl: Direct and compensating effects of Facebook use on offline associational membership (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2016.

Research concerned with a decline of associational involvement has examined whether the use of social networking sites, such as Facebook, may reinvigorate or crowd out involvement in civil society. Yet, previous studies have not systematically investigated possible effects of Facebook use on associational membership. We posit that the effects of Facebook use are twofold: Facebook stimulates associational membership directly through its inherent networking features and indirectly by compensating for the lack of traditional mobilizing factors, such as social trust and internal efficacy. Relying on a probabilistic sample of German participants aged 18–49, our findings show that Facebook users are more likely to be members of voluntary associations and that Facebook use increases the likelihood of associational membership even for individuals with low levels of social trust and internal efficacy. Instead of crowding out offline associational involvement, Facebook use stimulates membership in voluntary associations, thus contributing to the vitality of civil society.

Recommended citation: Popa, Sebastian A., Theocharis, Yannis, and Schnaudt, Christian (2016). "From seeing the writing on the wall, to getting together for a bowl: Direct and compensating effects of Facebook use on offline associational membership." Journal of Information Technology & Politics 13(3), 222-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2016.1194241

Subnational and national territorial identification (chapter in edited volume)

Published in: European Identity in the Context of National Identity: Questions of Identity in Sixteen European Countries in the Wake of the Financial Crisis, edited by Bettina Westle and Paolo Segatti, 2016.

This chapter analyses citizens’ identification with local, regional, and national levels. It asks whether these identifications constitute a multidimensional construct, indicating exclusive identifications, or a single unidimensional phenomenon, reflecting multiple identifications. To the extent that multiple identifications exist, it investigates whether these reflect a bottom-up or a top-down logic of identity construction. The results for the full national samples of the countries studied suggest that territorial identification represents a single unidimensional construct (with no clear internal order). When focusing on citizens from countries known for conflicts between the regional and the national level, the results hint at the presence of exclusive subnational identifications. Overall, the results establish positive news for modern democracies, as identifications with different territorial loci coexist. In some regions, however, national governments may find it difficult to implement important policies in light of exclusive subnational identifications, which appear to be at odds with a national identification.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian, Walter, Stefanie, and Popa, Sebastian A. (2016). "Subnational and national territorial identification." In Bettina Westle and Paolo Segatti (eds), European identity in the context of national identity: Questions of identity in sixteen European countries in the wake of the financial crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 63-92. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198732907.003.0003

Country-specific, cumulative ESS data set for Germany 2002-2014 (data release)

Published in: Official homepage of the European Social Survey, 2016.

The country-specific, cumulative dataset for Germany is based on the official ESS cumulative data file (ESS1-6e01, edition 1) and combines the official German ESS data of the first seven waves in one single data set. It thus includes not only those items which have been fielded at least twice in the ESS, but all German data from 2002-2014. In addition, the data set includes further country-specific items for Germany which have not been integrated into one single, cumulative data set before. These country-specific items have only been asked in Germany but not in other participating countries in a given wave. They come in two different forms: Either they establish completely new variables (e.g., evaluation of one’s personal situation before and after German unification in 1990) or they add new data to variables which have previously been part of the ESS but only been repeated in Germany in a given wave (e.g., membership in a sports club in 2002 and 2006). The country-specific, cumulative data set of the German ESS data thus represents an entirely new and encompassing collection of all available German ESS data from 2002-2014 which, in this form, has not been publicly available before. Relying on just one single data set allows for comprehensive data analyses without the need to switch between different data sets for individual ESS waves. The newly added country-specific items and data facilitate the analysis of new thematic focal points or enable researchers to investigate selected aspects of previous rotating modules also over time.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2016). Country-specific, cumulative ESS data set for Germany (ESSDE1-7e01). Available from http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/about/country/germany/german_data.html. http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/about/country/germany/german_data.html

The European Social Survey: Contents, design, and research potential (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: Journal of Contextual Economics -- Schmollers Jahrbuch, 2014.

The aim of this article is to provide a systematic overview and assessment of the contents, design and research potential of the ESS. To this end, the article outlines the contents of the first seven waves of the ESS, designates exemplary research designs and questions to be analysed with the individual- and contextual-level data provided by the ESS project, and provides information on how to obtain access to the ESS data. In addition, it highlights the methodology employed by the ESS, giving particular emphasis to questionnaire design and development, sampling procedures, as well as fieldwork, data collection, and data processing. To exemplify the practical implications and challenges of applying the ESS methodology, the article presents a detailed account of the contents and implementation of the ESS in Germany. It also contains information about additional resources connected with the ESS, such as the ESS EduNet online tutorials or the ESS Bibliography. The article concludes with a summary of the most important aspects of the ESS and highlights its research potential in comparison with other data sources.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian, Weinhardt, Michael, Fitzgerald, Rory, and Liebig, Stefan (2014). "The European Social Survey: Contents, design, and research potential." Journal of Contextual Economics -- Schmollers Jahrbuch 134(4), 487-506. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.134.4.487

In search of reliable results: Socialist values and political trust in unified Germany – A comment on Campbell´s analyses and conclusions (peer-reviewed journal article)

Published in: European Journal of Political Research, 2013.

In a recently published article in this journal, Ross Campbell argues that adherence to socialist values establishes a hitherto neglected factor when it comes to the explanation of differences in East and West German citizens´ political trust. As the results of his study indicate, adherence to socialist values impacts negatively on citizens´ political trust, this effect is more pronounced and more stable over time for East German as compared to West German citizens and is sufficiently strong to eliminate aggregate‐level differences in political trust between East and West Germany. However, this research note suggests that Campbell´s article contains several substantial inconsistencies and obscurities that question the reliability and validity of the empirical findings presented. It provides a re‐analysis of Campbell´s main arguments and shows to what extent his initial conclusions can be upheld after the shortcomings have been remedied. The results of this re‐analysis suggest that socialist values indeed exhibit a negative impact on German citizens´ political trust, which is relatively stronger for East as compared to West German citizens. However, contrary to Campbell´s initial results, the negative effect of socialist values on political trust is robust over time for both East and West German citizens. What is more, there is no empirical evidence confirming that differences in adherence to socialist values between East and West German citizens are sufficiently strong to account for aggregate‐level differences in political trust. In light of these findings, two of Campbell´s three main conclusions are dubious and call for further examination.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2013). "In search of reliable results: Socialist values and political trust in unified Germany – A comment on Campbell´s analyses and conclusions." European Journal of Political Research 52(3), 419-430. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12010

Politisches Vertrauen (chapter in edited volume)

Published in: Politik im Kontext: Ist alle Politik lokale Politik? Individuelle und kontextuelle Determinanten politischer Orientierungen, edited by Jan W. van Deth and Markus Tausendpfund, 2013.

This chapter investigates the influence of the local context on citizens´ trust in political institutions and authorities based on innovative primary data collected in randomly selected municipalities in the German state Hesse. It assesses the relative importance of common individual- and contextual-level explanations of political trust, including social capital, institutional performance, and political involvement.

Recommended citation: Schnaudt, Christian (2013). "Politisches Vertrauen." In Jan W. van Deth and Markus Tausendpfund (eds), Politik im Kontext: Ist alle Politik lokale Politik? Individuelle und kontextuelle Determinanten politischer Orientierungen. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 297-328. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-19249-9_11