Feeling the Candidates: The Impact of Presidential Candidate Emotions on Voter Responses

• In Event: The Role of Emotion in Information Processing

Abstract

This experiment investigates how the strength of coupling between emotional features of candidate communications and voters' emotional responses is related to evaluations of the candidates. Participants in a within subjects experiment were shown video clips of candidates running for U.S. President taken from the 2015 Democratic and Republican primary debates. Psychophysiological indicators of emotional response were recorded during viewing of each clip and self-report measures of attitudes toward the candidate and likelihood of voting for a candidate were obtained. This study sheds light on motivated cognitive processes potentially underlying evaluations of political candidates.

Authors

• Paul David Bolls, Texas Tech University

• Namyeon Lee, U of Missouri

• Jonathon Hambacker, U of Missouri

• Lydia Meyer, U of Missouri

• Terry Britt, University of Missouri

• Mingmin Xuan, U of Missouri

• Yitian Gu, U of Missouri

• Congrong (Cecilia) Zheng, University of Missouri

• Lauren Flaker, U of Missouri