Political scandals expose unethical or illegal behavior by government leaders and can erode public trust in democracy. This erosion, in turn, can lead to lower voter participation and cynicism toward future elections and government institutions. While scholars have studied the short-term effects of political scandals, little is known about their long-term impacts. In this article, we analyze local corruption and voter turnout 15 years after the Watergate scandal and find that the consequences are largely mediated by how parties manage a scandal – either sheltering politicians from accusations or muddying the waters with partisan attacks. We also investigate how these choices affect politicians’ career development, and we find that local politicians from the implicated party suffer less in electorally competitive municipalities when they switch parties after a scandal than when they stay in office.
Politics is rife with allegations of misconduct and corruption, and it is hard to know what really counts as corrupt when political polarization muddies the waters. Harmful Supreme Court decisions that whittle down campaign finance regulations and a scorched-earth politics have contributed to this climate. But the biggest driver is President Trump’s openly transactional approach to power, which warps perceptions of what conduct is corrupt and sets a dangerous precedent for his successors. In this week’s episode of Politics In Question, hosts Lee and Julia are joined by Charles Hunt, a Professor of Political Science at Boise State University, and Jaclyn Kettler, an Associate Professor of Political Science at BSU, to unpack the current political landscape.