How Political Content in Us Weekly Can Reduce Polarized Affect Toward Elected Officials
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6103259 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jennifer Wolak (0000-0003-4742-7442, Michigan State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 525-530 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | PS Political Science & Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1049-0965 • E-ISSN: 1537-5935 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1049096523000331 |
| OpenAlex | W4383737779 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
Politicians invest a lot of energy into managing their image, with the hope that the public views them favorably. In sharing details about themselves, elected officials want to be seen as people, not just as politicians. Are these efforts successful? I explore this question using an experiment inspired by a column in the celebrity entertainment magazine Us Weekly. I find that politicians who share nonpolitical autobiographical details about themselves secure warmer evaluations from the public. Reading this type of personalizing information also can contribute to ratings of elected officials that are less polarized by partisanship. While personalizing information boosts favorability toward politicians across party lines, members of the opposing party are particularly likely to report warmer affect toward the politician about whom they read. This suggests that this type of soft news coverage has the potential to depolarize partisan evaluations of politicians
Advertising · Business · Entertainment · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
The small effects of political advertising are small regardless of context, message, sender, or receiver
Three Steps toward a Theory of Motivated Political Reasoning
Image Ads and Issue Ads in U.S. Presidential Advertising
Going positive
The Declining Relevance of Candidate Personal Attributes in Presidential Elections
Soft News and Political Knowledge
Any Good News in Soft News? The Impact of Soft News Preference on Political Knowledge
Creating impressions
Motivated Reasoning, Public Opinion, and Presidential Approval
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Audience Attitude Change During the 2004 Party Conventions
Political Trust in a Cynical Age
Attitudes toward Presidential Candidates and Political Parties
Motivated Skepticism in the Evaluation of Political Beliefs
Talking the Vote
What Motivates Reasoning? A Theory of Goal‐Dependent Political Evaluation
The person-positivity bias
The Daily Show Effect
The case for motivated reasoning
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |