Entitled and self-conscious? The ego-centric underpinnings of electoral preferences during the 2020 U.S. election

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13016552
AutoresAlexander K Tatum (0000-0002-3377-3806, Ball State University, autor de correspondencia), Alessandro Nai (0000-0001-7303-2693, Ball State University)
Año2022
Volumen9
Número4
Fecha de publicación2022-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaResearch & Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2053-1680 • E-ISSN: 2053-1680
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/20531680221145554
OpenAlexW4312878615
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas43

We investigate whether entitlement (feeling more deserving than others) and several dimensions of self-conscious affect (broadly reflecting responses to shame and guilt) are associated with voting intentions during the 2020 Presidential election in the USA. We utilized a sample of 443 adults recruited through Prolific. The sample was demographically representative with respect to age, gender, and race. Participants were recruited from 12 October 2020 to 15 October 2020, approximately 3 weeks before the national election held on 3 November 2020. Results reveal that higher entitlement beliefs are associated with support for Republicans, and so are shame proneness vis-à-vis behavioral avoidance (desire to hide) and blame externalization. Inversely, guilt proneness and shame proneness vis-à-vis negative self-evaluation is associated with support for Democrats. Results also suggest that shame proneness and blame externalization most closely correspond with voting preference; specifically, negative self-evaluation drives support for Democrats, whereas blame externalization and behavioral avoidance drives support for Republicans. While these effects are often only in the small-to-medium range in terms of magnitude, their implications for a more nuanced understanding of electoral politics—and its pitfalls—are noteworthy

Affect (linguistics · Blame · Economics · Entitlement (fair division · Feeling · Political science · Politics · Preference · Presidential election · Shame · Voting · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Humor Studies and Applications · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology