Publicação
Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias?
| Resumo: | It is well known that voters’ evaluation of candidates on leadership traits influences their overall candidate assessment and vote choice (i.e., leader effects). It remains unclear, however, whether positive or negative leader trait evaluations are most influential. We argue that especially in current-day political reality—in which ideological and affective polarization are skyrocketing and the political climate is fueled with negativity, high levels of incivility, and negative campaigning—the negative leader effects outweigh the positive ones. Moreover, we expect this negativity bias in leader effects to be conditioned by partisanship and political dissatisfaction. To test these expectations, we triangulate multiple studies. First, we use data from a multi-country election survey to examine the relation between perceived leadership traits of real candidates and party preferences, providing observational evidence from the US, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Second, focusing on the causal mechanism, we test the negativity bias in a survey experiment among American voters. Here, we manipulate how leadership traits (competence, leadership, integrity, empathy) of a fictitious candidate are presented in terms of valence (positive, negative), and test the impact of these cues on voters’ candidate evaluations and vote choices. The findings indicate, as predicted, that negative leader effects influence voters most strongly. Thus, the role of party leaders is mainly a push instead of a pull factor in elections. Additionally, we show that partisanship and political dissatisfaction seem relevant only for candidate evaluations, not for vote choice. This article pushes the field of candidate evaluations forward by examining the dynamics of the negativity bias in leader effects in an era of negative politics. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Aaldering, Loes |
| Outros Autores: | Ferreira da Silva, Frederico; Garzia, Diego; Gattermann, Katjana; Nai, Alessandro |
| Assunto: | candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| Ano: | 2025 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | unknown |
| Instituição associada: | Cogitatio Press |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Politics and Governance |
| _version_ | 1863908140256329728 |
|---|---|
| author | Aaldering, Loes |
| author2 | Ferreira da Silva, Frederico Garzia, Diego Gattermann, Katjana Nai, Alessandro |
| author2_role | author author author author |
| author_facet | Aaldering, Loes Ferreira da Silva, Frederico Garzia, Diego Gattermann, Katjana Nai, Alessandro |
| author_role | author |
| country_str | PT |
| creators_json_str | [{\"Person.name\":\"Aaldering, Loes\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Ferreira da Silva, Frederico\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Garzia, Diego\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Gattermann, Katjana\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Nai, Alessandro\"}] |
| datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv | Aaldering, Loes Ferreira da Silva, Frederico Garzia, Diego Gattermann, Katjana Nai, Alessandro |
| datacite.rights.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv | candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv | Aaldering, Loes Ferreira da Silva, Frederico Garzia, Diego Gattermann, Katjana Nai, Alessandro |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv | application/pdf |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.9187 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv | eng |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv | Cogitatio Press |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| dc.rights.rights.copyright.fl_str_mv | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| dc.source.none.fl_str_mv | Politics and Governance; Vol 13 (2025): Legitimacy and Followership in National and International Political Leadership 2183-2463 10.17645/pag.i387 |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv | candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| dc.title.fl_str_mv | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 |
| description | It is well known that voters’ evaluation of candidates on leadership traits influences their overall candidate assessment and vote choice (i.e., leader effects). It remains unclear, however, whether positive or negative leader trait evaluations are most influential. We argue that especially in current-day political reality—in which ideological and affective polarization are skyrocketing and the political climate is fueled with negativity, high levels of incivility, and negative campaigning—the negative leader effects outweigh the positive ones. Moreover, we expect this negativity bias in leader effects to be conditioned by partisanship and political dissatisfaction. To test these expectations, we triangulate multiple studies. First, we use data from a multi-country election survey to examine the relation between perceived leadership traits of real candidates and party preferences, providing observational evidence from the US, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Second, focusing on the causal mechanism, we test the negativity bias in a survey experiment among American voters. Here, we manipulate how leadership traits (competence, leadership, integrity, empathy) of a fictitious candidate are presented in terms of valence (positive, negative), and test the impact of these cues on voters’ candidate evaluations and vote choices. The findings indicate, as predicted, that negative leader effects influence voters most strongly. Thus, the role of party leaders is mainly a push instead of a pull factor in elections. Additionally, we show that partisanship and political dissatisfaction seem relevant only for candidate evaluations, not for vote choice. This article pushes the field of candidate evaluations forward by examining the dynamics of the negativity bias in leader effects in an era of negative politics. |
| dirty | 0 |
| eu_rights_str_mv | unknown |
| format | article |
| id | pg_2a4f0bf05eb31c1914a49d204d0dcbfb |
| identifier.doi.fl_str_mv | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.9187 |
| instacron_str | cp |
| institution | Cogitatio Press |
| instname_str | Cogitatio Press |
| language | eng |
| network_acronym_str | pg |
| network_name_str | Politics and Governance |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:ojs.cogitatiopress.com:article/9187 |
| organization_str_mv | urn:organizationAcronym:cp |
| person_str_mv | Aaldering, Loes Ferreira da Silva, Frederico Garzia, Diego Gattermann, Katjana Nai, Alessandro |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher.none.fl_str_mv | Cogitatio Press |
| reponame_str | Politics and Governance |
| repository_id_str | urn:repositoryAcronym:pg |
| service_str_mv | urn:repositoryAcronym:pg |
| spelling | en-USLeader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias?Aaldering, LoesFerreira da Silva, FredericoGarzia, DiegoGattermann, KatjanaNai, Alessandrocandidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarizationCopyright (c) 2025 Loes Aaldering, Frederico Ferreira da Silva, Diego Garzia, Katjana Gattermann, Alessandro Naihttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.9187DOIhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/9187URLHasVersionhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/9187/4315URLHasVersionhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/9187/4105URLHasVersionhttps://doi.org/10.17645/pag.9187DOI2025-04-10en-USIt is well known that voters’ evaluation of candidates on leadership traits influences their overall candidate assessment and vote choice (i.e., leader effects). It remains unclear, however, whether positive or negative leader trait evaluations are most influential. We argue that especially in current-day political reality—in which ideological and affective polarization are skyrocketing and the political climate is fueled with negativity, high levels of incivility, and negative campaigning—the negative leader effects outweigh the positive ones. Moreover, we expect this negativity bias in leader effects to be conditioned by partisanship and political dissatisfaction. To test these expectations, we triangulate multiple studies. First, we use data from a multi-country election survey to examine the relation between perceived leadership traits of real candidates and party preferences, providing observational evidence from the US, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Second, focusing on the causal mechanism, we test the negativity bias in a survey experiment among American voters. Here, we manipulate how leadership traits (competence, leadership, integrity, empathy) of a fictitious candidate are presented in terms of valence (positive, negative), and test the impact of these cues on voters’ candidate evaluations and vote choices. The findings indicate, as predicted, that negative leader effects influence voters most strongly. Thus, the role of party leaders is mainly a push instead of a pull factor in elections. Additionally, we show that partisanship and political dissatisfaction seem relevant only for candidate evaluations, not for vote choice. This article pushes the field of candidate evaluations forward by examining the dynamics of the negativity bias in leader effects in an era of negative politics.Cogitatio Pressapplication/pdfen-USPolitics and Governance; Vol 13 (2025): Legitimacy and Followership in National and International Political Leadership2183-246310.17645/pag.i387engjournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501literatureVoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| spellingShingle | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? Aaldering, Loes candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| status_str | VoR |
| subject.fl_str_mv | candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| title | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| title_full | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| title_fullStr | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| title_short | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| title_sort | Leader Effects in an Era of Negative Politics: Who Has a Negativity Bias? |
| topic | candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| topic_facet | candidate evaluation; leader effects; negativity bias; political polarization |
| url | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.9187 |
| visible | 1 |