№ 6 - 2000
Myagkov A.Yu.
The Effect of Prestige Names in Sociological Surveys

The author investigates the suggestive effect that prestige political names mentioned in questionnaires have on respondents’ answers in sociological polls. As a matter of fact, three differing effects are analyzed: (a) crystallization of attitudes, (b) change of their content and (c) restructuring of party orientations. The influence of the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, professional status, and education) is analyzed, too. In the aspect of practical politics, the author dwells in particular on what happens when obscure candidates or unpopular parties come to be associated in people’s consciousness with outstanding persons. It is the results of foreign scholars’ studies and, besides, of a special split-ballot experiment recently carried by the author in Ivanovo that were used as the basic material analyzed in the article.