We investigate whether political incivility and intolerance increase support for political violen... more We investigate whether political incivility and intolerance increase support for political violence, considering the moderating roles of racial resentment and localized group conflict. We will conduct a 2x2 survey experiment with a control group, manipulating both uncivil and intolerant language. We estimate neighborhood context by linking respondent zip codes with data on neighborhood-level racial heterogeneity.
Tweets issued by the official Twitter accounts of members of Congress during the 112th and 113th ... more Tweets issued by the official Twitter accounts of members of Congress during the 112th and 113th congresses. Includes guide summarizing scope and limitations of the datasets.
Recognizing its causal power, contemporary scholars of media effects commonly leverage experiment... more Recognizing its causal power, contemporary scholars of media effects commonly leverage experimental methodology. For most of the 20th century, however, political scientists and communication scholars relied on observational data, particularly after the development of scientific survey methodology around the mid-point of the century. As the millennium approached, Iyengar and Kinder’s seminal News That Matters experiments ushered in an era of renewed interest in experimental methods. Political communication scholars have been particularly reliant on experiments, due to their advantages over observational studies in identifying media effects. Although what is meant by “media effects” has not always been clear or undisputed, scholars generally agree that the news media influences mass opinion and behavior through its agenda-setting, framing, and priming powers. Scholars have adopted techniques and practices for gauging the particular effects these powers have, including measuring the me...
The 2010 and 2012 elections provide an opportunity to study the effect of sub-partisan cues, due ... more The 2010 and 2012 elections provide an opportunity to study the effect of sub-partisan cues, due to the participation of Republican candidates affiliated with the Tea Party movement in congressional races throughout the United States. We argue that the Tea Party label acts as a sub-partisan cue, and candidates labeled “Tea Party Republicans” are more likely to be perceived as conservative by voters -- even when actual candidate ideology is controlled for. Moreover, we offer competing hypotheses regarding how voters perceive Democrats opposing Republicans with salient Tea Party connections: The Opposing-Party Extremism Hypothesis supposes that voters are more likely to perceive Democrats to be liberal, while the Opposing-Party Moderation Hypothesis supposes that voters see Democrats as more moderate. Using data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we find that salient Tea Party connections increases the likelihood Republicans are perceived as conservative and Democrats ...
Can political incivility bolster support for American candidates? Conventional wisdom holds that ... more Can political incivility bolster support for American candidates? Conventional wisdom holds that it does and Donald Trump’s 2016 electoral victories demonstrate the power of uncivil rhetoric—particularly, when it is paired with racially intolerant rhetoric. However, recent studies have demonstrated that leveraging political incivility can backfire on elites. As such, it is unclear whether uncivil rhetoric has electoral value, or if its utility is bolstered when it is joined by intolerant rhetoric. Leveraging a survey experiment, I find that both political incivility and racial intolerance induce feelings of disgust. The presence of intolerance in a message weakens the effects of incivility on disgust for out-group elites, suggesting that multiple rhetorical norm violations result in diminishing (negative) returns. Moreover, the effects of intolerance on disgust are moderated by a subject’s level of racial resentment. These aversive reactions to incivility and intolerance reduce elec...
This article considers whether candidates strategically use emotional rhetoric in social media me... more This article considers whether candidates strategically use emotional rhetoric in social media messages similar to the way that fear appeals are used strategically in televised campaign advertisements. We use a dataset of tweets issued by the campaign accounts of candidates for the US House of Representatives during the last two months of the 2018 midterm elections to determine whether candidate vulnerability predicts the presence of certain emotions in social media messages. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that vulnerability does not appear to inspire candidates to use more anxious language in their tweets. However, we do find evidence of a surprising relationship between sad rhetoric and vulnerability and that campaign context influences the use of other forms of negative rhetoric in tweets.
This chapter contributes to research on the strategic use of emotions in political campaigns by g... more This chapter contributes to research on the strategic use of emotions in political campaigns by gauging the presence of negative rhetoric in the social media posts of congressional candidates. Leveraging a dataset of tweets posted by candidates for the U.S. House during the last two months of the 2018 midterm election, we utilize a dictionary-based automated text analysis program to estimate the amount of negative language used by the candidates. Our results demonstrate that the campaign context can affect the likelihood that candidates use negative rhetoric in their tweets, as does gender and partisanship. Challengers, those in competitive races, losers, women, and Democrats were more likely to use anxious, sad, and angry words in their tweets during the run-up to Election Day 2018.
We investigate whether political incivility and intolerance increase support for political violen... more We investigate whether political incivility and intolerance increase support for political violence, considering the moderating roles of racial resentment and localized group conflict. We will conduct a 2x2 survey experiment with a control group, manipulating both uncivil and intolerant language. We estimate neighborhood context by linking respondent zip codes with data on neighborhood-level racial heterogeneity.
Tweets issued by the official Twitter accounts of members of Congress during the 112th and 113th ... more Tweets issued by the official Twitter accounts of members of Congress during the 112th and 113th congresses. Includes guide summarizing scope and limitations of the datasets.
Recognizing its causal power, contemporary scholars of media effects commonly leverage experiment... more Recognizing its causal power, contemporary scholars of media effects commonly leverage experimental methodology. For most of the 20th century, however, political scientists and communication scholars relied on observational data, particularly after the development of scientific survey methodology around the mid-point of the century. As the millennium approached, Iyengar and Kinder’s seminal News That Matters experiments ushered in an era of renewed interest in experimental methods. Political communication scholars have been particularly reliant on experiments, due to their advantages over observational studies in identifying media effects. Although what is meant by “media effects” has not always been clear or undisputed, scholars generally agree that the news media influences mass opinion and behavior through its agenda-setting, framing, and priming powers. Scholars have adopted techniques and practices for gauging the particular effects these powers have, including measuring the me...
The 2010 and 2012 elections provide an opportunity to study the effect of sub-partisan cues, due ... more The 2010 and 2012 elections provide an opportunity to study the effect of sub-partisan cues, due to the participation of Republican candidates affiliated with the Tea Party movement in congressional races throughout the United States. We argue that the Tea Party label acts as a sub-partisan cue, and candidates labeled “Tea Party Republicans” are more likely to be perceived as conservative by voters -- even when actual candidate ideology is controlled for. Moreover, we offer competing hypotheses regarding how voters perceive Democrats opposing Republicans with salient Tea Party connections: The Opposing-Party Extremism Hypothesis supposes that voters are more likely to perceive Democrats to be liberal, while the Opposing-Party Moderation Hypothesis supposes that voters see Democrats as more moderate. Using data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we find that salient Tea Party connections increases the likelihood Republicans are perceived as conservative and Democrats ...
Can political incivility bolster support for American candidates? Conventional wisdom holds that ... more Can political incivility bolster support for American candidates? Conventional wisdom holds that it does and Donald Trump’s 2016 electoral victories demonstrate the power of uncivil rhetoric—particularly, when it is paired with racially intolerant rhetoric. However, recent studies have demonstrated that leveraging political incivility can backfire on elites. As such, it is unclear whether uncivil rhetoric has electoral value, or if its utility is bolstered when it is joined by intolerant rhetoric. Leveraging a survey experiment, I find that both political incivility and racial intolerance induce feelings of disgust. The presence of intolerance in a message weakens the effects of incivility on disgust for out-group elites, suggesting that multiple rhetorical norm violations result in diminishing (negative) returns. Moreover, the effects of intolerance on disgust are moderated by a subject’s level of racial resentment. These aversive reactions to incivility and intolerance reduce elec...
This article considers whether candidates strategically use emotional rhetoric in social media me... more This article considers whether candidates strategically use emotional rhetoric in social media messages similar to the way that fear appeals are used strategically in televised campaign advertisements. We use a dataset of tweets issued by the campaign accounts of candidates for the US House of Representatives during the last two months of the 2018 midterm elections to determine whether candidate vulnerability predicts the presence of certain emotions in social media messages. Contrary to theoretical expectations, we find that vulnerability does not appear to inspire candidates to use more anxious language in their tweets. However, we do find evidence of a surprising relationship between sad rhetoric and vulnerability and that campaign context influences the use of other forms of negative rhetoric in tweets.
This chapter contributes to research on the strategic use of emotions in political campaigns by g... more This chapter contributes to research on the strategic use of emotions in political campaigns by gauging the presence of negative rhetoric in the social media posts of congressional candidates. Leveraging a dataset of tweets posted by candidates for the U.S. House during the last two months of the 2018 midterm election, we utilize a dictionary-based automated text analysis program to estimate the amount of negative language used by the candidates. Our results demonstrate that the campaign context can affect the likelihood that candidates use negative rhetoric in their tweets, as does gender and partisanship. Challengers, those in competitive races, losers, women, and Democrats were more likely to use anxious, sad, and angry words in their tweets during the run-up to Election Day 2018.
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