Party supporters are driven by partisan identity – not specific policies

Political engagement depends on the extent to which supporters identify with a given party. But are party supporters influenced by the actual party policy? Or is it rather the level of their attachment to the party in question that determines their partisanship, a relation that may be compared to that of sports fans?

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New research published in the world’s leading political science journal suggests that the political commitment of party supporters is driven by their need to defend the party’s status and to be part of the social group that identify with the party. Issues and ideology are a lot less significant when it comes to understanding the correlation between partisan identification and political commitment.

Partisanship is a key factor for understanding voting behaviour, political commitment and involvement as well as the extent to which politicians may influence public opinion. However, researchers still disagree on whether partisan identification is largely instrumental or expressive in nature, i.e. whether it represents the social identity similar to that of sports fans, or whether it is based on an ongoing assessment of the party’s policy stances and the extent to which the party’s policies and the party supporters’ personal opinions correlate.

"Partisan identification can be a very powerful driving force. Our findings underscore the power of an expressive partisan identity to drive campaign involvement and generate strong emotional reactions to ongoing campaign events."

Lene Aarøe - associate professor, Department of Political Science, Aarhus BSS

Party supporters at the mercy of their feelings

Lene Aarøe from Aarhus BSS and her American co-authors seek to contribute to this debate with their research, which is based on a series of studies focused on political participation in campaign activities in the USA. They have found that an expressive partisan identity drives people’s involvement in and commitment to campaign events, to a much greater extent than personal opinions and ideological self-placement. This also applies to ordinary people’s emotional commitment in politics.

“More specifically, our analyses show that strongly identified partisans feel angrier than weaker partisans when threatened with electoral loss and more positive when reassured of victory,” explains Lene Aarøe.

“On the contrary, those who hold a strong and ideologically consistent position on issues are no more aroused emotionally than others by party threats or reassurances.”

What is the impact of the results from a democratic perspective?

“Our results suggest that in American politics the social identity fostered by partisan identification can be a very powerful driving force. Our findings underscore the power of an expressive partisan identity to drive campaign involvement and generate strong emotional reactions to ongoing campaign events,” says Lene Aarøe.

From a democratic perspective, however, it is important to be aware that expressive partisan identity can become problematic if it is completely detached from political opinion and no assessment of the parties’ policy stances is involved.

“In this instance, party supporters may become vulnerable. They may risk being seduced by empty campaign rhetoric and mobilised on behalf of political candidates who have completely different political views than they do,” says Lene Aarøe.

Facts:

The article “Expressive Partisanship: Campaign Involvement, Political Emotion, and Partisan Identity” was published in the journal American Political Science Review.

The authors are Leonie Huddy, Stony Brook University, Lilliana Mason, Rugers University and Lene Aarøe, Aarhus University.

The American Political Science Review is considered the leading journal in the field of political science.