I checked 7 public opinion journals on Friday, March 20, 2026 using the Crossref API. For the period March 13 to March 19, I found 5 new paper(s) in 2 journal(s).

Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology

HE SAID, SHE SAID: GENDER-OF-INTERVIEWER EFFECTS AND THE ROLE OF THE INTERVIEWERS’ GENDER ATTITUDES IN THE HUNGARIAN ESS ROUND 11
Ádåm Stefkovics, Vera Messing
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The measurement of gender attitudes in face-to-face surveys can be problematic due to gender of interviewer effects. When dealing with sensitive gender-related questions, respondents may downplay their genuine beliefs to avoid potential negative judgment from an interviewer of a particular gender or they may emphatically align their responses with perceived socially accepted opinions. In this study, we examine direct gender of interviewer effects and the interaction between the respondents’ and the interviewers’ gender. In addition, we extend prior studies by asking whether the interviewers’ own gender attitudes are associated with the respondents’ attitudes. We use the 11th round of the European Social Survey in Hungary, which contained a module on gender attitudes. In a unique setting, interviewers were asked to answer the same survey, resulting in 1,548 interviewer-respondent dyads available for analysis. The results of the multilevel models suggest no direct effects of the gender of the interviewer and weak interaction effects across different types of attitudes. However, the interviewer’s gender attitudes strongly and positively predicted the respondent’s same attitudes in many cases. We recommend that future face-to-face survey research control for some key attitudinal characteristics of the interviewer and focus on objectivity and self-expression during interviewer training.

Public Opinion Quarterly

Paying It Forward: Generalized Reciprocity in Mass Opinion on Foreign Aid
Joonbum Bae, Changkeun Lee
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Does providing American vaccines overseas improve views of the United States? Do beneficiaries of donated shots change their opinions on foreign aid? Can the example of the United States providing aid lead to higher support for international assistance in other nations? Utilizing original panel data from a two-wave survey fielded in South Korea in 2021 and 2022, this paper finds no evidence that American shots, whether donated or purchased, lead to more positive views of the United States. However, we document a “pay it forward effect,” where recipients of donated COVID-19 vaccines from the United States were more likely to pass on the generosity by supporting Korean vaccine aid to other countries in need. Information that the United States was supplying assistance to developing countries also made it more likely that vaccinated South Koreans would support their government donating vaccines abroad. This study provides evidence of second-order effects of vaccine aid that can benefit American interests by facilitating the timely distribution of vaccines across the globe, even when it does not improve the donor’s image. The results highlight the role foreign aid can play in furthering international cooperation and call for broader criteria when evaluating its effect.
Designing Passwords for Web Survey Access: The Effects of Password Length and Complexity on Survey and Panel Recruitment
Georg-Christoph Haas, Marieke Volkert, Stefan Zins
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Online probability panels that recruit participants via postal invitation letters use passwords to manage access to the survey. While previous research has examined primarily whether providing a password affects response rates, less attention has been given to the impact of password strength, defined by length and complexity, on response propensities. Password length refers to the number of characters in a password, while complexity refers to the set of characters (e.g., lowercase letters, digits). This study evaluates the influence of password length and complexity on various participation levels (i.e., survey access, response rates, and panel registration) as well as the propensity to consent to data linkage and item response rates for income questions. We conducted an experiment in the first wave of a German online probability survey and manipulated password length and complexity. Additionally, we included a group using the default length and complexity settings (eight uppercase letters) of the survey hosting service. The participants were randomly assigned to one of these groups. The findings indicate that longer and more complex passwords increase both participation rates and the propensity to consent to data linkage between survey and administrative data.
How Empathy and Partisanship Affected Attitude Changes Following the Assassination of Shinzo Abe: Evidence from Panel Surveys
Zeyu Lyu, Susumu Cato
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Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in Japan’s postwar history, was assassinated on July 8, 2022, triggering widespread social reactions and shifts in public opinion. This study investigates the effects of the assassination on attitudes toward Abe using panel data from before and after the assassination. Our results suggest that, overall, attitudes toward Abe significantly improved after the assassination, and that the extent of attitude change varied between groups. Specifically, we find that individuals with strong empathy were more likely to improve their attitude toward Abe, indicating a pattern of emotion-driven attitude change. Our analysis also suggests that partisanship may have shaped individuals’ attitude changes. Specifically, individuals with opposing party preferences were more resistant to attitude change, whereas partisan proximity facilitated positive reassessments. Moreover, the influence of partisanship on attitude change depended on its intensity. Individuals without sustained and strong party preferences were more susceptible to attitude change following the assassination. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence for attitude changes due to political violence and has implications for our understanding of the mechanisms of such attitude changes.
Levels of Office and Voter Accountability for Democratic Norm Violations
Tadeas Cely, Marc S Jacob, Sean J Westwood
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Political candidates in the United States increasingly endorse antidemocratic actions across all levels of office, yet most research focuses on federal races. A key concern is that norm-violating candidates at lower levels may ascend to higher office, posing broader risks to democratic stability. This study examines whether voters are more or less likely to defect from copartisan norm violators at lower levels of office. Across two preregistered survey experiments with 5,000 US respondents, we find that defection rates remain consistent across local, state, and federal races, regardless of the number or type of violations. These findings suggest two interpretations: optimistically, voters are not more forgiving of norm violations in lower-level elections; pessimistically, even where the stakes appear lower, voters are also no more likely to hold norm violators accountable. Our results are consistent with the nationalization of voting behavior and the risk of a candidate pipeline that enables norm violators to rise unchecked.