We live in a politically polarized country. Depending on where Americans stand on issues, people on the other side are often viewed as the enemy and sometimes in visceral terms. Those feelings can be driven by emotions.

The two leading contenders for president – incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump certainly evoke emotions.

Almost every day there’s a poll that shows which candidate voters support, or less frequently, support for or opposition to specific issues.

But what about the emotional responses to the candidates from voters?

It's not the kind of question voters are asked very often but Franklin and Marshall College’s February poll asked how Pennsylvania voters how they would feel if Biden or Trump were elected.

On The Spark Monday, Berwood Yost, Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College said emotions play a significant role in how how voters decide which candidates to support,"You could argue that polarization is driven by these emotional feelings, right? But, political scientists talk about negative ideology and negative partisanship, which basically means we have strong negative feelings about the other party. I don't think there's any question that emotions play a large role in our politics. And I think we don't talk about them a lot. And, maybe we should talk about them more, particularly as people become more and more polarized."

The poll divided voters into three categories -- all voters, moderates, and "disapprovers." Those polled were asked to say whether they were worried or hopeful, sad or happy and agitated or calm about the prospect of Biden and Trump being elected.

Yost indicated the poll showed more negative emotional responses to Trump than Biden,"Among Mr. Trump's supporters, if you're looking at all voters, about a third of voters consistently said they'd be very hopeful, very happy, very calm if he were to win. So about a third of voters expressed positive emotions about his victory. But he also pretty solidly outpaces President Biden and the number of strong negative responses he generates among all voters. So, there's a lot more voters who have an extreme emotional response, as we've measured it to President Trump than President Biden. I don't think that's a surprise, but that's what we certainly see. So then we wanted to say, okay, that's all voters are. There's some groups of voters that are worth looking at, more closely. And one group that we think is important for this election will be moderate voters, people who do not identify as ideological conservatives or ideological liberals. And here we see a very different picture. Again, President, Biden has a much larger share of positive forecasts. So a lot more people said they'd be very hopeful, very happy, or very calm if he were elected compared to President Trump. Now, again, just speaking about moderates who only about 15% consistently said they'd be very hopeful, happy or calm. And then on the other side, again, we see this large negative emotional response to Trump, former President Trump among moderate voters."

Even though Trump gets more negative emotional responses from those polled, the horse race polls show the candidates are close. The February F&M poll showed President Biden narrowly leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, 43% to 42%, in a one-on-one match up in Pennsylvania.

Yost added that Trump voters are more enthusiastic about Trump than Biden voters are about Biden,"If you look at conservative voters, 70% of conservatives say they would be very happy, very helpful, very calm if Mr. Trump won in November. So his base is really positive and happy and excited about his candidacy. You can't say the same for Joe Biden among liberals, and this is his real problem, I think. Only about half said they'd be very calm if he won. Fewer than half said they would be very happy if he won. And only 1 in 4. Now this is liberals. Only 1 in 4 liberals said they are very hopeful should Biden win. And this, in a nutshell, emphasizes Mr. Biden's weakness with his base and Mr. Trump's strength with his. Which is why the races are so close at the moment. This the the base, the base of both parties feel very differently about their candidates.

We live in a politically polarized country. Depending on where Americans stand on issues, people on the other side are often viewed as the enemy and sometimes in visceral terms. Those feelings can be driven by emotions.
The two leading contenders for president – incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump certainly evoke emotions.
Almost every day there’s a poll that shows which candidate voters support, or less frequently, support for or opposition to specific issues.
But what about the emotional responses to the candidates from voters?
It's not the kind of question voters are asked very often but Franklin and Marshall College’s February poll asked how Pennsylvania voters how they would feel if Biden or Trump were elected.
On The Spark Monday, <a href="https://berwoodyost.com/">Berwood Yost</a>, Director of the <a href="https://www.fandm.edu/centers-institutes-and-initiatives/center-for-opinion-research/index.html">Floyd Institute for Public Policy at the Center for Opinion Research</a> at Franklin &amp; Marshall College said emotions play a significant role in how how voters decide which candidates to support,"You could argue that polarization is driven by these emotional feelings, right? But, political scientists talk about negative ideology and negative partisanship, which basically means we have strong negative feelings about the other party. I don't think there's any question that emotions play a large role in our politics. And I think we don't talk about them a lot. And, maybe we should talk about them more, particularly as people become more and more polarized."
The poll divided voters into three categories -- all voters, moderates, and "disapprovers." Those polled were asked to say whether they were worried or hopeful, sad or happy and agitated or calm about the prospect of Biden and Trump being elected.
Yost indicated the poll showed more negative emotional responses to Trump than Biden,"Among Mr. Trump's supporters, if you're looking at all voters, about a third of voters consistently said they'd be very hopeful, very happy, very calm if he were to win. So about a third of voters expressed positive emotions about his victory. But he also pretty solidly outpaces President Biden and the number of strong negative responses he generates among all voters. So, there's a lot more voters who have an extreme emotional response, as we've measured it to President Trump than President Biden. I don't think that's a surprise, but that's what we certainly see. So then we wanted to say, okay, that's all voters are. There's some groups of voters that are worth looking at, more closely. And one group that we think is important for this election will be moderate voters, people who do not identify as ideological conservatives or ideological liberals. And here we see a very different picture. Again, President, Biden has a much larger share of positive forecasts. So a lot more people said they'd be very hopeful, very happy, or very calm if he were elected compared to President Trump. Now, again, just speaking about moderates who only about 15% consistently said they'd be very hopeful, happy or calm. And then on the other side, again, we see this large negative emotional response to Trump, former President Trump among moderate voters."
Even though Trump gets more negative emotional responses from those polled, the horse race polls show the candidates are close. The February F&amp;M poll showed President Biden narrowly leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, 43% to 42%, in a one-on-one match up in Pennsylvania.
Yost added that Trump voters are more enthusiastic about Trump than Biden voters are about Biden,"If you look at conservative voters, 70% of conservatives say they would be very happy, very helpful, very calm if Mr. Trump won in November. So his base is really positive and happy and excited about his candidacy. You can't say the same for Joe Biden among liberals, and this is his real problem, I think. Only about half said they'd be very calm if he won. Fewer than half said they would be very happy if he won. And only 1 in 4. Now this is liberals. Only 1 in 4 liberals said they are very hopeful should Biden win. And this, in a nutshell, emphasizes Mr. Biden's weakness with his base and Mr. Trump's strength with his. Which is why the races are so close at the moment. This the the base, the base of both parties feel very differently about their candidates.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at https://witf.org/programs/the-spark.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from <a href="https://www.witf.org">WITF</a>, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

The Spark

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

Advertisement