Anxiety and the Vote in the 2012 French Presidential Election

26 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2014

See all articles by Pavlos Vasilopoulos

Pavlos Vasilopoulos

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) - Center for Political Research (CEVIPOF)

Date Written: October 18, 2014

Abstract

The theory of affective intelligence is one of the most prominent theories to the understanding of voters’ decision-making processes and the key role that emotions play in shaping democratic politics. Despite extensive interest and discussion on its theoretical foundations and its empirical illustration, tests of the theory of affective intelligence outside the United States are scarce. This paper adjusts and tests the theory of affective intelligence in the second round of the 2012 French presidential election. Furthermore, it extends current evidence by relying on extrinsic anxiety, in the light of recent criticism that anxiety’s effect on vote choice is in fact endogenous. Results confirm the basic premises of the theory. I find that anxious voters are more likely to abandon the habitual ideological identification and concentrate on contemporary assessments and especially the issue of unemployment. These findings confirm the theory of affective intelligence against recent criticisms. Furthermore, they bridge two long traditions in the study of the French voters, arguing that voting on the basis on the long or short term forces is subject to the electorate’s levels of anxiety.

Keywords: emotions, political behavior, elections, France

Suggested Citation

Vasilopoulos, Pavlos, Anxiety and the Vote in the 2012 French Presidential Election (October 18, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2511621 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2511621

Pavlos Vasilopoulos (Contact Author)

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) - Center for Political Research (CEVIPOF) ( email )

98 rue de l'Université
Paris, 75007
France

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
76
Abstract Views
465
Rank
567,904
PlumX Metrics