Of Two Minds, But One Heart

A Good “Gut” Feeling Moderates the Effect of Ambivalence on Attitude Formation and Turnout

Bibliographic Data

ID6231820
AuthorsEric Groenendyk (0000-0002-8563-8614, University of Memphis, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume63
Issue2
Pages368-384
Publication date2019-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ajps.12419
OpenAlexW2917919846
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited41

Popular psychological accounts argue that successful candidates address their appeals to citizens’ “hearts” rather than their “heads.” Yet research on campaigns shows that candidates win elections by getting voters to think about particular issues—especially issues that create ambivalence in the minds of opposition supporters. This article helps to reconcile these “heart‐centered” and “head‐centered” accounts of preference formation during campaigns. An original experiment and ANES data analyses (1980–2004) show that a “good gut feeling” toward a candidate helps citizens to overcome the paralyzing effect of ambivalence on attitude formation and turnout. And, since turnout is most tenuous among those with lower income, this is where the effect is most pronounced. Since Democratic candidates rely disproportionately on support from these lower‐income voters, it is particularly important that they inspire positive affect among latent supporters

Affect (linguistics · Ambivalence · Democracy · Economics · Feeling · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Preference · Turnout · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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