Expressive Partisanship: Campaign Involvement, Political Emotion, and Partisan Identity
Abstract
Party identification is central to the study of American political behavior, yet there remains disagreement over whether it is largely instrumental or expressive in nature. We draw on social identity theory to develop the expressive model and conduct four studies to compare it to an instrumental explanation of campaign involvement. We find strong support for the expressive model: a multi-item partisan identity scale better accounts for campaign activity than a strong stance on subjectively important policy issues, the strength of ideological self-placement, or a measure of ideological identity. A series of experiments underscore the power of partisan identity to generate action-oriented emotions that drive campaign activity. Strongly identified partisans feel angrier than weaker partisans when threatened with electoral loss and more positive when reassured of victory. In contrast, those who hold a strong and ideologically consistent position on issues are no more aroused emotionally than others by party threats or reassurances. In addition, threat and reassurance to the party's status arouse greater anger and enthusiasm among partisans than does a threatened loss or victory on central policy issues. Our findings underscore the power of an expressive partisan identity to drive campaign involvement and generate strong emotional reactions to ongoing campaign events.
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Huddy et al. (2015) reported finding the expected correlation that the stronger the partisan identity, the greater the enthusiasm to 'reassuring' messages.
“Los autores reportaron hallar las correlaciones esperadas: cuanto más fuerte era la identidad partidaria, mayor enojo ante mensajes”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Huddy et al. (2015)
Huddy et al. (2015) reported finding the expected correlation that the stronger the partisan identity, the greater the anger to 'threatening' messages.
“Los autores reportaron hallar las correlaciones esperadas: cuanto más fuerte era la identidad partidaria, mayor enojo ante mensajes”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Huddy et al. (2015)
In the United States, partisanship means identifying with the Democrat group or the Republican group.
“In the United States, partisanship means identifying with the Democrat group or the Republican group”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Huddy et al. 2015
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“The greater emotionality of strong partisans, especially their greater anger in response to threat, helps explain the vitriolic nature of current party politics (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes, 2012).”
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- Authors
- HUDDY, L., MASON, L., & AARØE, L.
- Affiliations
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Corresponding author
- HUDDY, LEONIE
- MASON, LILLIANA
- AARØE, LENE
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2015-02
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-17
- ISSN
- 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5943
- OpenAlex
- W2139076143
- Cited by
- 1,415
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 138 · 2025: 171 · 2024: 169 · 2023: 114 · 2022: 220 · 2021: 155 · 2020: 156 · 2019: 132 · 2018: 87 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 340.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Political Science Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Keywords
- partisan identity, emotions in politics, anger, social identity theory, electoral threats, ideological self-placement
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