Words are stones: how elite discourse deters the political participation of young people

This paper tests the effect of elite discourse on young people's non-electoral political engagement. We hypothesize that statements by political elites that portray young people as alienated and as not very interested in politics have a negative impact on their likelihood of participating politically, while statements that portray them as integrated and interested in politics have a positive impact on their likelihood of participating politically. We adopt an experimental design and find strong evidence of a causal effect of elite discourse on youth political engagement. Additionally, we find evidence for mediation effects through political trust as well as emotional states such as hope, pride, and relief.