Hostile public effect: Minority status mobilizing political participation

This study theorizes and tests the hostile public effect, according to which citizens who (a) actually are and/or (b) merely see themselves in a minority should be more participatory than those holding the dominant opinion. This study also tests whether it is citizens’ perceptions or their actual status that matters to political engagement. Furthermore, the hostile public effect is tested across three distinct issues and two participatory forms. Drawing on a nationally representative survey (N = 2,500) conducted in Spain, this study finds evidence for the mobilizing hostile public effect, with citizens who are actual minorities when it comes to their positions on abortion and immigration being more participatory than actual majorities. In turn, perceived minority or majority status does not matter to political engagement. These findings have various theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for public opinion scholarship.