Vox pops vs. poll results—effects of consonant and dissonant displays of public opinion in news coverage

Abstract

Abstract Interviews with ordinary people on the street, so-called vox pops, are a popular way to present public opinion in the news. Although early research on the phenomenon claimed them to be more influential than base-rate information such as opinion polls, newer research, and meta-analyses paint a more complex picture of influence. In addition, research on the competing influence of these information types is scarce, especially in scenarios where they provide conflicting information about what the public thinks. Our study analyzes how various combinations of vox pops and public opinion polls affect audience’s perceptions of public opinion using a two-country experiment on two political issues. Results suggest that both vox pops and opinion polls influence public opinion perceptions, with polls being more influential than vox pops even when both cues contradict each other.