(iPoster) Emotional Appeals and Voter Information Processing in Ghana's Elections

• In Event: Poster Sessions: African Politics Conference Group & Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: African Politics Conference Group

Abstract

Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the current study examined how emotional appeals in political campaign messages influence voter information processing and party identification in Ghana. A hundred participants from Axim, Ghana, were randomly assigned to view either an enthusiasm-based or a fear-based campaign video featuring fictional political parties and completed the thought-listing exercise, emotional response measure, and party identification assessment.
Results showed no significant difference in party identification between conditions. However, elaboration scores differed significantly: enthusiasm-based appeals encouraged peripheral processing while fear-based appeals triggered central processing. These findings demonstrate that the Elaboration Likelihood Model successfully explains political communication in an African democratic context, thereby extending its applicability beyond Western democracies.


Keywords: emotional appeals, Elaboration Likelihood Model, party identification, political communication, Ghana.

Author

• Rhema Boabeng, university of wyoming