’Gut instinct’ trumps ’evidence’ when voting

People are more likely to go with their gut and trust personal opinions irrespective of evidence that might be presented during an election or referendum campaign, according to an important new economic study. A new paper, published by our Department of Economics , shows that voters tend to retain strong attachment to their own opinions even when this is challenged by evidence. It also suggests that voters tend to distrust experts and place disproportionate weight on their own experiences and evidence. For the study , which has interesting parallels with the Leave vote in the referendum on Britain's membership of the EU or the election of President Trump in the United States in 2016, 188 participants were asked to vote between two options - vote red, or vote blue, with a third possibility to abstain. Voters were told that one option would be better for them economically and would result in them receiving a real cash, monetary payment if sufficient voters 'chose correctly'. But participants were only given limited information on which to base their political 'bet'. Asssessing the political bet.