A political scandal occurs when a public figure is accused of illegal, unethical or immoral behavior that undermines trust in the democratic process. Its impact on political behavior, voter turnout and other outcomes can be significant. This article explores the processes that transform private misbehavior into a public scandal, and shows that the transformation is deeply political—that is, it depends on whether politicians are able to cover up their wrongdoing or must choose to expose it in order to maintain their electoral fortunes.
The article compiles research from a range of disciplines, including political science, political psychology and communication science. It highlights five central moderators—candidate characteristics and behaviors, prior attitudes, context, and the media’s coverage of the scandal—that have a profound influence on both the scandal’s impact and its consequences. It also discusses the media’s role as a watchdog for democracy and its tendency to inflate trivial norm transgressions by politicians, which can have negative effects on voters.
The paper uses new data sets to examine how scandals impact presidential, gubernatorial and congressional performance over the past 50 years. It finds that scandals have a greater effect on elected officials when the accusers are members of the same party and that political polarization increases the likelihood that scandals will occur. This is because the more ideologically divided a political party is, the more it will seek to shelter its own politicians from accusations of misconduct and make false allegations against the opposing party.