Political scandal is the exposure of unethical behavior by politicians, government employees, or other influential people in society. Such scandals often catalyze political reforms, such as when the Credit Mobilier scandal exposed rampant corruption and led to legislative responses aimed at improving contracting and finance practices in the government. However, the effects of these events remain largely unknown (as evidenced by an extensive search of research literature).

A growing body of work shows that scandals can significantly influence citizens’ evaluations of a single politician and may even spill over to other politicians (e.g., Bowler & Karp 2004). The impact of scandals is, however, complex. Various studies find negative evaluative effects, while others report no or only minor evaluative effects. Furthermore, a growing body of work reveals that the type and seriousness of a norm transgression or scandal case, as well as the particular context in which it occurs, influence whether and how much its consequences affect politicians’ evaluations.

A new line of research suggests that the effects of scandals depend in large part on the level of polarization in a society. The greater the ideological divide between two parties, the more the aligned party will want to shield its politician from scandal and the opposing party will have an incentive to expose the wrongdoing of the other party – even if this involves making false accusations. This type of dishonesty erodes the value of political discourse and ultimately diminishes voters’ quality of life.