From financial fraud to personal misconduct, political scandal exposes unethical or illegal behavior in government and erodes public trust. From the Watergate break-in to the bribery scandals of the 1920s to President Trump’s “covfefe” pardons, these events highlight the darker side of governance and spotlight issues like corruption, abuse of power, and the struggle for accountability.
Scandals often elicit outraged responses from the media, which can influence how scandals are perceived by the public. Research suggests that political polarization accelerates the production of scandals and reduces the likelihood that a politician’s actions will be punished by voters. It also incentivizes bad behavior by politicians because they know their party will always have their backs.
Moreover, the perception of a scandal’s severity is not a matter of fact but of choice: a scandal’s reputation depends on whether or not a particular observer thinks it deserves to be framed as a scandal. As a result, observers tend to form judgments about a scandal’s seriousness in the same way that they form views about political candidates and policies. When a scandal is deemed serious, other observers’ reports and opinions quickly converge toward consensus, confirming the dominant view that a particular event or person constitutes a scandal. This symbiotic relationship between events and the way they are perceived can shape political landscapes and have long-lasting implications for how people expect politicians to conduct themselves in office.