Americans hold their political leaders to a higher discursive standard than rank-and-file co-partisans

Do political partisans hold their co-partisan political leaders to a higher or lower discursive standard than rank-and-file co-partisans? Previous research in non-political group contexts suggests competing answers to this question. Some research (e.g., Abrams et al., 2013) suggests that leaders (as defenders of the group) are afforded credits for transgressions and thus held to a lower behavioral standard for incivility than their constituents....