Project

The BRIDGE project explores the complex and multifaceted nature of citizens' political attitudes towards the Portuguese Parliament. It seeks to understand the nuanced perceptions and attitudes of Portuguese citizens, offering insights into the mechanisms shaping these views, and developing new observational measures for such endevours. Despite its central role in the political system, there is a significant lack of understanding concerning the views, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes of the Portuguese people toward their parliament and politicians. Without exploring these subtleties, our comprehension of the citizen-parliament dynamic in Portugal remains shallow.

BRIDGE adopts a unique two-phase mixed-method approach to delve into Portuguese citizens' perceptions and engagements with the Assembly of the Republic (AR), focusing on trust, satisfaction, knowledge, and engagement. Initially, we conduct exploratory focus groups to understand how citizens form opinions and perceptions, exploring trust, dissatisfaction, and alienation towards the parliament. Insights from these focus groups will then guide the development of a sophisticated survey instrument, by refining questions, answers, scales, and terminology to accurately reflect the topic's complexity accurately. In the second phase, we will implement the survey among a representative sample of Portuguese adults, collecting comprehensive data on individual perceptions and attitudes, incorporating both traditional and innovative observational measures. This phase also explores the impact of incivility in parliamentary discourse on public attitudes, through an experimental component, thereby enriching our analysis and aiding future research.

This project is supported by a team of political scientists, social psychologists, and anthropologists.