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This paper evaluates the influence of online news consumption on attitudes toward the European Union in a context of protracted economic crisis. Using data from the 2011 Irish National Election Study, we combine location-specific information on broadband availability with respondent geo-location data, which facilitates causal inference about the effects of online news consumption via instrumental variable models. Results show that Irish citizens who source political information online are more prone to blame the EU for the poor state of the economy than those who do not. There is evidence of preference reinforcement among those with negative predispositions toward the EU, but not among pro-EU citizens. We complement this analysis with a study of voting behavior in the European Fiscal Compact Referendum, employing a similar methodological approach. The results from this second survey confirm the anti-EU influence of online news consumption among Irish citizens, although evidence suggests a pro-EU effect among voters who browsed the website of the politically neutral Irish Referendum Commission. Our paper contributes to the literature on public opinion, the EU, and political attitudes in times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists have long recognized the importance of social groups in political life, exploring when and how they influence individuals' political attitudes and behaviors. But measuring group identities and psychological affiliations is problematic. Since 1972, the "group closeness" measure developed in the American National Election Studies (ANES) has been the most widely used indicator of group identification and affiliation, included in other surveys and incorporated into measures of group consciousness and community. Building on research on response effects, I develop and test hypotheses about how variations in survey methods-interview mode, presentation format of survey questions, response options, and question order-influence responses to group-closeness measures across a range of social groups. The analyses show that measurement differences generate significant response effects: Telephone interview mode and sequential format produce higher levels of reported closeness; response-option variations impair cross-survey and over-time comparisons; and question-order variation in telephone interviews generates effects consistent with satisficing, consistency bias, and social desirability. Replicating the findings from a recent publication about group closeness by re-analyzing data separately by mode and format demonstrates mode and format effects. Despite these challenges, the group-closeness measure has several measurement and substantive virtues, and should continue to be used in public-opinion surveys. The paper ends with a discussion of how best to move forward in research on group closeness: I recommend making sequential-format and scaled-response options universal to mitigate response effects in extant data and improve future measurement precision, and calibrating question order to minimize social desirability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]