Abstract:

Political accountability revolves around electing candidates that closely match the preferences of a constituency. In this research note, I examine candidates’ own take on whether they are a better match for their district than their opponent. Specifically, I examine the dynamics of candidates accusing their opponents of being out of touch in 2020 Facebook campaign ads. In a close race, Republican candidates have a 0.66 probability of accusing their opponent of being out of touch. For Democratic candidates, this probability is 0.28. In terms of ideology, I find that candidates who are less aligned with their district than their opponent tend to accuse them of being out of touch, even after accounting for their own extremism and the distance between the two candidates. This dynamic also has electoral implications – Republican candidates who unjustly accuse their opponents of being out of touch improve their own marginal vote share by 3%.