Title
Finding the Truth in Politics: An Empirical Validation of the Epistemic Political Efficacy Concept
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2018
Abstract
Self-efficacy theory suggests that one’s perceived ability to successfully find facts may motivate political information seeking. A telephone survey of voters in a presidential campaign attempted to further validate the concept of epistemic political efficacy (EPE), or belief one can discover the “truth” in politics, and applied it to modern information-seeking behaviors. This study of North Carolina registered voters ( N = 605) demonstrates that EPE adds predictive power beyond commonly used measures such as individual political efficacy for contemporary media use variables like online information seeking and partisan cable viewing. EPE was a stronger positive predictor of online information seeking than individual political efficacy. In addition, viewing partisan cable shows had a stronger relationship with EPE than mainstream TV news viewing, and EPE significantly predicted MSNBC viewing, even after controlling for partisanship. In a word, voters who are high in the belief that political facts or “truths” exist take steps to find and understand them.
Publication Name
Atlantic Journal of Communication
Volume Number
26
First Page
1
Last Page
15
Issue Number
1
Publisher
Routledge
DOI
10.1080/15456870.2018.1398162
Recommended Citation
Farman, Lisa; Riffe, Daniel; Kifer, Martin; and Leder Elder, Sadie, "Finding the Truth in Politics: An Empirical Validation of the Epistemic Political Efficacy Concept" (2018). Department of Strategic Communication Faculty Publications. 2.
https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/comm_management_faculty_pubs/2