Voting “Against Islamization”?
- Author(s)
- Desiree Schmuck, Jörg Matthes
- Abstract
We explore the effects of anti-Islamic right-wing, populist political campaign ads on voting intention for a right-wing populist party using a quota-based online experiment (N = 174). Additionally, we investigate implicit attitudes (i.e., automatic affective associations) and explicit attitudes (i.e., overtly expressed evaluations) toward Muslims as underlying mechanisms of these effects. We find that exposure to the political campaign ads prompts explicit hostile attitudes toward Muslims mediated by implicit attitudes. Explicit attitudes in turn shape voting intention. Moreover, implicit attitudes toward Muslims predict voting preference beyond the influence of explicit attitudes. Thus, resentments toward Muslims may foster voters' support for anti-Islamic right-wing populist parties even under the radar of conscious awareness. In sum, this study demonstrates for the first time the entire process of right-wing, populist political campaign ads' effects on voting preferences via implicit and explicit attitudes toward Muslims.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- Journal
- Political Psychology
- Volume
- 40
- Pages
- 739-757
- No. of pages
- 19
- ISSN
- 0162-895X
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12557
- Publication date
- 08-2019
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508007 Communication science, 508014 Journalism
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Philosophy, Social Psychology, Political Science and International Relations, Sociology and Political Science
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/voting-against-islamization(b0c064d1-76d4-4328-b35d-a9cdf0249571).html