Republicans are more willing than Democrats to spread fake news—particularly during times of greater “political polarization,” or competition between the parties—because they want to win more.
That is the conclusion of a study, published in the Journal of Marketing, by marketing researchers Xiajing Zhu and Connie Pechmann, a professor at the University of California, Irvine. Zhu is a Ph.D. candidate in marketing at the university.
They found that Republicans respond to political competition more aggressively, communicating information that is likely untrue, if not definitively false, to boost their side.
“Although Republicans may understand the content is very likely false, they are willing to spread it because they strongly value their party winning over the competition,” Zhu said in a statement.
“Democrats do not value winning nearly as strongly. They place more value on equity and inclusion, seeing the world in a fundamentally different way than Republicans,” she said.
Zhu and her colleagues came to their conclusion after …