Voters follow their leaders despite what other party elites say and do

Since he became president, Donald Trump has departed from the traditional Republican Party platform in areas such as free trade policy. But how can we explain why so many Republican voters have changed their own views despite the opposition of party elites like members of Congress? In new research, Alexander Agadjanian finds that party elites have little influence compared to party leaders on partisans’ opinions about policy issues. The leader’s influence also remains undiminished even when party members are given information about the complexity of a policy, he writes.