Reply #15: Here's the research work I did this fall...

[Writer]

Political Cynicism in Action: Watching the 2008 Presidential Debates
with Internet News Users

Much research into cynicism centers on media effects on cognition and behavior based on specific stimuli. McGraw, Lodge, and Jones uncover that people are more suspicious of politicians’ statements than statements from “ordinary” people. However, much of this suspicion derives not from a person’s general feeling of malaise about the world or about other people, but from specific political reasons. John Fraser writes, “Political cynicism apparently does have political causes.” Additionally, a person will more cognitively evaluate what they believe to be a politician’s negative behavior, while more readily accepting what they believe to be positive behavior with little questioning. A person’s prior opinion about a public official, or a policy disagreement with a public official, also can raise suspicion in a voter.

It's a 26 page paper, so it gets a bit more interesting... but here you go.