Making the other side mad

How out‐group distaste benefits less competent candidates

Bibliographic Data

ID6231701
AuthorsJoshua A Strayhorn (0000-0001-6808-4608, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder Colorado USA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Publication date2025-02-04
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ajps.12948
OpenAlexW4407182002
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited62

I present a formal model of candidate evaluation in a context where voters within some group or political party learn information about to what extent various in‐group candidates (such as a slate of primary candidates) are disliked by an out‐group or opposing party. Thus, a voter's candidate evaluation is based in part on how they process information about which of their own candidates provoke particularly strong distaste from the out‐group. I show that exposure to information about out‐group distaste can cause voters to make misleading inferences about candidate characteristics, causing them to sometimes systematically prefer lower competence candidates. These effects are stronger for certain kinds of low‐information voters, and for more ideologically motivated voters. The model can thus explain under what conditions voters will support politicians who particularly aggrieve the opposition. This can also create secondary incentives for politicians to signal incompetence

Group (periodic table · Chemistry · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Media Influence and Politics · Psychology · Social Media and Politics

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