10.7910/DVN/POMIFD Blumenau, Jack E Jack E Blumenau https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0536-1564 UCL (University College London) Lauderdale, Benjamin E Benjamin E Lauderdale https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3090-0969 UCL (University College London) Harvard Dataverse 2022 Social Sciences Persuasion (Rhetoric) Public opinion Surveys External validity Jack Blumenau Jack Blumenau UCL (University College London) Jack Blumenau Jack Blumenau UCL (University College London) 2021-08-06 2022-01-21 669709 252204 514837 35271 33067 54055787 54090227 6904 36307 33425940 28304340 2439 158548 33247 80133501 547669 800424 487297 580987 54091470 37199 31728 607339 55094 3446445 15397232 35943 30947 78083 592705 2423 618733 29015 2834 7956 31490 37391 45900 2548 512839 29981657 603721 5893 29639459 540433 3485 22283374 80181421 30894 2814 28951 558739 5700 267977 2776 80175931 1700896 3204 23857 6277 147914 text/csv image/png text/csv text/csv text/csv application/x-rlang-transport application/x-rlang-transport text/tab-separated-values text/csv application/x-rlang-transport application/x-rlang-transport type/x-r-syntax text/tab-separated-values text/csv application/x-rlang-transport text/csv text/tab-separated-values text/csv text/csv application/x-rlang-transport text/csv text/csv text/csv application/gzip application/gzip application/x-rlang-transport text/csv text/csv application/octet-stream text/csv type/x-r-syntax text/csv text/csv type/x-r-syntax type/x-r-syntax text/csv text/csv application/octet-stream type/x-r-syntax text/csv application/x-rlang-transport text/csv application/x-tex application/x-rlang-transport text/csv type/x-r-syntax application/x-rlang-transport application/x-rlang-transport application/octet-stream type/x-r-syntax text/csv text/csv application/x-tex image/png type/x-r-syntax application/x-rlang-transport application/x-spss-sav text/tab-separated-values type/x-r-syntax text/plain application/pdf 1.0 Custom terms specific to this dataset Which types of political rhetoric are most persuasive? Politicians make arguments that share common rhetorical elements, including metaphor, ad hominem attacks, appeals to expertise, moral appeals, and many others. However, political arguments are also highly multidimensional, making it difficult to assess the relative persuasive power of these elements. We report on a novel experimental design which assesses the relative persuasiveness of a large number of arguments that deploy a set of rhetorical elements to argue for and against proposals across a range of UK political issues. We find modest differences in the average effectiveness of rhetorical elements shared by many arguments, but also large variation in the persuasiveness of arguments of the same rhetorical type across issues. In addition to revealing that some argument-types are more effective than others in shaping public opinion, these results have important implications for the interpretation of survey-experimental studies in the field of political communication. This dataset underwent an independent verification process that replicated the tables and figures in the primary article. For the supplementary materials, verification was performed solely for the successful execution of code. The verification process was carried out by the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <br></br> The associated article has been awarded Open Materials and Open Data Badges. Learn more about the Open Practice Badges from the <a href="https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki/home/" target="_blank">Center for Open Science</a>.<br></br> <img src="https://odum.unc.edu/files/2020/03/OpenData_PR-1.png" alt="Open Data Badge" height="77" width="80"> <img src="https://odum.unc.edu/files/2020/03/OpenMaterials_PR-1.png" alt="Open Materials Badge" height="77" width="80">