We are the People and you are Fake News: Populist Citizens’ Public Opinion and Media Perceptions.

Abstract: Recent national elections demonstrate a rather great and—maybe more important—still growing demand for populism on the citizen level. This is paralleled by a debate about rising media skepticism in many countries. While longitudinal studies do not indicate a decrease in news trust on the aggregate level, distrust in the media can clearly be linked to populist attitudes. Moreover, those citizens who support populism believe that their own opinion is identical to what the majority thinks. The talk will introduce social psychological explanations to make sense out of these links between populist attitudes, hostile media and false consensus beliefs. Furthermore, the talk will discuss consequences that can follow such biased perceptions.