WashU Political Science faculty members Margit Tavits, Jacob Montgomery, Christopher Lucas, and former WashU Political Science PhD students Dahjin Kim and Taishi Muraoka have published a new article in the journal Political Science Research and Methods (PSRM). In the article, titled, "Polarization but not populism strengthens the association between presidential election results and emotions", the team analyzed emotional reactions on parties' Facebook posts during 29 presidential elections in 26 democracies. The article investigates whether election results are associated with emotional reactions among voters across democracies and under what conditions these responses are more intense.

Read the articles abstract below and the full text on the PSRM page.

Abstract:

We investigate whether election results are associated with emotional reactions among voters across democracies and under what conditions these responses are more intense. Building on recent work in comparative politics, we theorize that emotional intensity is stronger after elections involving populist candidates and highly polarized parties. We test these expectations with a big-data analysis of emotional reactions on parties’ Facebook posts during 29 presidential elections in 26 democracies. The results show that ideological polarization of political parties might intensify emotional reactions, but there is no clear relationship with the presence of populist candidates.