Us vs. Them – Voter Turnout, Partisanship, and Emotional Responses to Presidential Candidates, 1980-2012

25 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2017

See all articles by Simon Heuberger

Simon Heuberger

American University, School of Public Affairs, Department of Government

Will Jorgeson

American University

Jan E. Leighley

University of Arizona - Department of Political Science

Date Written: December 23, 2016

Abstract

While numerous studies have examined how emotions mediate different aspects of citizens’ political attitudes, information-seeking and knowledge, few have focused on how campaigns might motivate or depress political behavior such as voter turnout. We use measures of positive and negative emotions from the American National Election Studies (ANES) for presidential elections between 1980 and 2012 to examine whether emotional affect toward presidential candidates increases over time, whether Republican identifiers report stronger emotional affect than Democratic identifiers, and whether emotional affect is associated with self-reported voter turnout. Our evidence indicates that emotional affect is associated with higher turnout but fails to support our expectations regarding changes over time in affective reactions to candidates and partisan differences in affective reactions.

Keywords: Turnout, public opinion, emotion, partisanship

Suggested Citation

Heuberger, Simon and Jorgeson, Will and Leighley, Jan E., Us vs. Them – Voter Turnout, Partisanship, and Emotional Responses to Presidential Candidates, 1980-2012 (December 23, 2016). American University School of Public Affairs Research Paper No. 2916459, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2916466 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2916466

Simon Heuberger (Contact Author)

American University, School of Public Affairs, Department of Government ( email )

4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC
United States

Will Jorgeson

American University ( email )

4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

Jan E. Leighley

University of Arizona - Department of Political Science ( email )

315 Social Sciences Building
P.O. Box 210027
Tucson, AZ 85721-0027
United States
520-621-7600 (Phone)

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