Chapter 8 addresses a key question in public opinion surveys in China—political sensitivity. Many people are suspicious of the high level of political trust among the Chinese survey respondents. They don’t believe that people in authoritarian societies can tell the truth. This chapter borrows the method of list experiment which was originally developed to test racial bias and social desirability in the United States. Based on several list experiments conducted in China, the chapter finds only a moderate amount of political desirability effect. Even by taking consideration of such effect, political support is still very strong and significantly higher than in other societies such as democratic Taiwan. These findings further prove that political support in China is more likely to be explained by Chinese political culture, rather than by political fear.
Relation:
Populist Authoritarianism: Chinese Political Culture and Regime Sustainability
