Political scandal has received large attention in the literature, but little consensus exists on how to define it. [5] Generally, scholars use it to refer to an act that violates public or professional norms and receives extensive media coverage. This definition is somewhat flexible and includes revelations of misbehaviors by politicians from either party or of private behavior that could be perceived as questionable.
Scholars also differ on the function of scandal and on whether or not its revelation influences voting decisions. For example, some scholars advocate that revelation of corruption scandals fulfills important democratic functions (e.g., exposing wrongdoing or inducing reform). Others reject this functional view and argue that partisan scandals serve mainly to discredit the opposing party by making false accusations, even if such accusations do not have any bearing on the underlying misconduct.
New research from Wioletta Dziuda and William G. Howell of UChicago sheds light on these debates by showing that the emergence of political scandal depends on the degree of political polarization in a country. The more polarized a country is, the greater the incentive for one party to expose the bad behavior of politicians from the other, and for the opposing party to suppress this information or make baseless accusations against them. This polarization diminishes the value of political discourse and ultimately harms voters.
The authors developed a model of political scandal that simulates the political environment in which it occurs. The authors then showed that, as in real life, scandals involving elected officials from the same parties often emerge in tandem. When this happens, a politician who is exposed to the media can expect her support to drop unless she already had low support to begin with. Conversely, a politician whose support is unfavorable to start with can see her reputation rebound if she receives partisan scandals that are vehemently denied by her own party.