The Political Consequences of Ambivalence: The Case of Democratic Reform in Hong Kong
Address correspondence to Francis Lee, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, N. T., Hong Kong, francis_lee{at}cuhk.edu.hk
Recent research has shown that attitudinal ambivalence has important implications on political attitudes and behavior. The concept holds one of the keys to understanding complicated and seemingly contradictory opinions of the public. This article examines ambivalence in public opinion regarding democratic reform in Hong Kong. Analysis of a representative survey (N = 600) shows that common citizens indeed have a significant degree of ambivalence toward the government's political reform bill proposed in 2005. Regarding consequences, objective ambivalence is shown to have greater predictive power than subjective ambivalence. The former relates negatively to attitude extremity and weakens the attitude–behavior linkage. However, contrary to the usual finding in the literature, objective ambivalence also relates positively to protest participation intention. The theoretical and social implications of the findings are discussed.
Received for publication June 29, 2007. Accepted for publication October 8, 2008.