The formation of public opinion toward European integration: political rhetoric, party competition, and individual dispositions.

Recent protests against austerity measures and the political pressure experienced by governments across the Eurozone point to the vital importance of public opinion about Europeanization for policy-making and political conflict. This research project investigates the causes of citizen attitudes toward European integration and the European Union (EU). My main goal is to determine whether political elites (politicians, experts, and political parties) have the capacity to influence public opinion and to manufacture political majorities for or against European integration. I focus on elite influence through political rhetoric and party competition, and I study the interaction of these types of communication with individual dispositions that are known to be strongly correlated to EU attitudes. The extant literature relies almost entirely on non-experimental observational studies, and has so far failed to provide valid evidence for the extent of elite influence. I address this issue by conducting a series of seven political psychological experiments, combined with an analysis of existing data from public opinion surveys, media content assessments, and party manifesto codings.