Civic Anxiety: How Americans Feel about Democratic Uncertainty and Reform

• In Event: Threats to Democracy and Democratic Norms

Abstract

Americans are living through a highly emotional time in contemporary politics. Several recent studies affirm that across the political spectrum, mentions of uncertainty regarding our electoral systems trigger heightened anger, disgust, and anxiety. Could it be that Americans of all political stripes are looking to the future with a deep sense of worry and recognize that American democracy needs reformation? If so, what might these strong emotions suggest for the prospect of policies and efforts many view as very necessary to the defense and prosperity of American democracy?
This paper investigates the emotions of the American people around changes to our electoral and democratic system, and specifically, how emotions impact the prospect and process of advancing polices for democratic reform. Do emotions make Americans more likely to embrace or resist democratic change? Additionally, what can emotion tell us about the types of reforms Americans are likely to support and who is likely to support them? Furthermore, are heightened emotional reactions to our current political climate likely to push citizens toward more dramatic and “extreme” political reforms or indicate an appetite for more cautious, incremental, and less risky reforms? We hypothesize that heightened emotion will trigger increased support for more extreme options. This hypothesis is at odds with some existing research, showing that, on average, anxiety increases risk aversion. In previous work we’ve found that anxiety does not always lead to support for cooperative or passive types of policies. For example, we’ve found that terrorism anxiety after 9/11 increased support for hawkish foreign policy. Similarly, anxiety over current electoral politics could increase support for bolder, riskier reforms.

Authors

• Bethany Albertson, University of Texas, Austin

• Shana Kushner Gadarian, Syracuse University