DIRECT AND INDIRECT ROUTES TO POLITICIZING PERSONAL-EXPERIENCE - DOESKNOWLEDGE MAKE A DIFFERENCE

This study examines the effects of issue-specific knowledge on the ext ent to which personal unemployment experiences influence presidential approval. The well informed are found to be more likely to connect per sonal experiences directly to political preferences, yet less likely t o generalize from their own personal experiences in assessing the stat e of the nation as a whole. Since perceptions of the state of national conditions have a well-documented influence on presidential approval, simultaneously considering direct and indirect paths helps to resolve contradictory implications in past findings on the role of informatio n in conditioning the politicization of personal economic experience.