Stories, Science, and Public Opinion about the E state Tax John Sides Department of Political Science George Washington University jsides@gwu.edu July 2011 Abstract How much does factual information affect political attitudes? I address that question through a case study of attitudes toward the estate tax. Drawing on two original survey experiments, I demonstrate that correct information about who actually pays the estate tax does increase support for the estate tax. Preferences shifts caused by this information were approximately as large as those caused by pro-tax arguments that emphasized normative values such as equality. The effects of this information were concentrated among lower-income conservatives and Republicans. These findings contrast with previous research on estate tax attitudes and have broader implications for the study of political information and information-processing.