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Scholars and popular commentators have often stereotyped emotion as a tool that citizens use to reason about politics in place of hard fact and critical thought. Indeed, critics have often seen emotion as a potentially dangerous force that can sway the unsophisticated masses to undesirable ends. This article challenges the view that emotion is an outgrowth of low sophistication, arguing that high sophisticates are more likely to experience emotion in reaction to politics and that emotions are more influential on the political behavior of high sophisticates. Drawing upon appraisal theory, this article develops a theory of how political engagement elicits emotionality about politics, and how emotion interacts with understanding and motivation to produce its greatest impact on the behavior of those citizens who are the most politically sophisticated. Behavioral effects are examined in the contexts of presidential voting behavior and Iraq War policy attitudes. Hypotheses are tested on pooled American National Election Studies (ANES) data and an original web‐based survey of undergraduates.

The racial dynamics of Southern politics have long been defined by the divide between whites and blacks, but recent years have seen high levels of Latino growth throughout the region. This work examines the effect that the influx of Latinos has had on attitudes toward immigration in the United States, and explores how racial threat resulting from Latino growth manifests itself differently in the North versus the South. Results suggest that traditional ways of conceptualizing racial threat may be inappropriate to capture the unique dynamics of Latino growth, especially in the South, and different measures of threat are proposed and tested. Data come from the 2000 National Election Survey (NES) merged with data from the U.S. Census.

ObjectivesAmerican political elites heatedly disagree over voter identification (ID) laws. Yet, the issue is not particularly polarizing at the mass level. Previous research mostly explores voter ID attitude correlates and how those policies shape turnout, but offers less insight into how average citizens understand the issue. We explore competing partisan frames on voter ID—voter fraud and voter suppression—that advance subtexts about partisan motivations and whom these laws benefit.MethodWe use an original nationally representative survey to examine how partisan motivated reasoning, strategic reasoning, and moral conviction influence voter ID frame perceptions and policy support among partisans.ResultsFor average partisans, strategic reasoning and moral conviction significantly influence frame perceptions and voter ID attitudes, though not always along predicted party lines. Motivated reasoning proves inconsequential.ConclusionsRepublicans have won the "framing war" over voter ID, largely neutralizing the Democratic voter suppression frame, even among average Democrats.

This study examines the association between high school journalism and civic engagement in early adulthood, independent of other civic activities. Nationally representative data show that taking high school journalism classes is related positively to voting in the years following high school, to a similar degree that taking debate classes or participating in student government is related to voting. High school journalism also moderates the association between family socioeconomics and civic engagement. Underprivileged student journalists tend to vote and volunteer more than their non-journalism peers. The study theorizes journalism education's unique contributions to civic development and civic communication competence.

This study examines the association between high school journalism and civic engagement in early adulthood, independent of other civic activities. Nationally representative data show that taking high school journalism classes is related positively to voting in the years following high school, to a similar degree that taking debate classes or participating in student government is related to voting. High school journalism also moderates the association between family socioeconomics and civic engagement. Underprivileged student journalists tend to vote and volunteer more than their non-journalism peers. The study theorizes journalism education's unique contributions to civic development and civic communication competence.

Based on social comparison and social identity theory, we argue that average partisans in contemporary U.S. politics view elections as group competitions in which partisan identities are at stake. Using nationally representative survey data, we demonstrate that stronger partisan identities, more than ideological identities or issue preferences, are associated with a greater sense of partisan hostility—specifically, party rivalry and anger. That hostility mediates the impact of partisan identities on political attitudes and actions. As a result, strong partisan identifiers hold the most hostile and uncivil attitudes and are the most likely to participate in elections. Thus, in the context of elections, the behavior of partisans resembles that of sports team members acting to preserve the status of their teams rather than thoughtful citizens participating in the political process for the broader good. We explore the implications of these findings for the current state of American politics.

This study examines the relationship between political discussion on Facebook and social network location. It uses a survey name generator to map friendship ties between students at a university and to calculate their centralities in that network. Social connectedness in the university network positively predicts more frequent political discussion on Facebook. But in political discussions, better connected individuals do not capitalize equally on the potential influence that stems from their more central network locations. Popular individuals who have more direct connections to other network members discuss politics more often but in politically safer interactions that minimize social risk, preferring more engaged discussion with like-minded others and editing their privacy settings to guard their political disclosures. Gatekeepers who facilitate connections between more pairs of otherwise disconnected network members also discuss politics more frequently, but are more likely to engage in risk-tolerant discussion practices such as posting political updates or attempting political persuasion. These novel findings on social connectedness extend research on offline political discussion into the social media sphere, and suggest that as social network research proliferates, analysts should consider how various types of network location shape political behavior.

This study examines the relationship between political discussion on Facebook and social network location. It uses a survey name generator to map friendship ties between students at a university and to calculate their centralities in that network. Social connectedness in the university network positively predicts more frequent political discussion on Facebook. But in political discussions, better connected individuals do not capitalize equally on the potential influence that stems from their more central network locations. Popular individuals who have more direct connections to other network members discuss politics more often but in politically safer interactions that minimize social risk, preferring more engaged discussion with like-minded others and editing their privacy settings to guard their political disclosures. Gatekeepers who facilitate connections between more pairs of otherwise disconnected network members also discuss politics more frequently, but are more likely to engage in risk-tolerant discussion practices such as posting political updates or attempting political persuasion. These novel findings on social connectedness extend research on offline political discussion into the social media sphere, and suggest that as social network research proliferates, analysts should consider how various types of network location shape political behavior.