When Politics Disgust: Emotional versus Rational Processing of Attack Ads

Abstract

ABSTRACT Following the 2016 Presidential election, 82% of respondents felt disgusted with politics. This revulsion persisted into the 2020 Presidential campaign with voters reporting avoidance of voting and increased disgust with the opposition. Previous political research has noted a moderate negative correlation between negative political campaigning and trust in government and mixed findings on voting intentions. We make a distinction between emotional versus rational processing of political attack ads and use that distinction to demonstrate that emotional processing of these ads evokes disgust and accordingly avoidance of voting and decreased trust in government. Moreover, disgust evoked by political attack advertisements is transferred to politics in general, dampening voting intentions, trust in government, and in the short term political aspirations. This research helps explain previous mixed findings in the negative political campaigning literature and suggests how emotional processing and the disgust response are alienating portions of the electorate.