Understanding Voter Resistance to Political Campaigns: Evidence from National Elections of Pakistan

Abstract

Political marketing literature acknowledges the pivotal role of marketing campaigns in building political support, yet a notable gap exists in understanding voters’ resistance to political campaigns. This paper argues that voters’ resistance can be managed if their attitudes are understood. Grounded in the Tripartite theory of attitude that conceptualizes attitude as a complex relationship between cognition (voter’s apathy, skepticism and cynicism), affection (voter’s dissatisfaction and frustration) and conation (voter’s resistance to political campaigns), the study tests a model for understanding resistance to political marketing. An empirical investigation of 454 participants from 2018 national elections in Pakistan, utilizing a structured questionnaire for data collection and employing structural equation modeling analysis techniques, reveals that skepticism and dissatisfaction significantly fuel voters’ resistance to political efforts. These factors engender disbelief, erode trust, and diminish interest in political candidates and their parties. Based on these findings, we draw implications for advocating citizen engagement over a sole reliance on advertisements to mitigate negative voter attitudes toward political campaigns.