The Good Intention Gap: Poverty, Anxiety, and Implications for Political Action

Denny, Elaine K.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2839926

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Since participating in demonstrations is not an option in relation to the Covid‐19 pandemic, the actions are more in the form of online participation. This would be in line with the study by Denny ( 2016 ), who found that financial anxiety was related to political participation when participation was measured as signing an online petition. We tentatively expect that: focusing on the virus and strained health care situation should lead to anxiety, which in turn is likely to increase political action intentions (H2b) .…”

Section: Expectations About Emotions and Policies In Relation To The Covid‐19 Pandemicsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The political psychology research to date has not focused particularly on anxiety (Brader & Marcus, 2013), although some exceptions exist. For instance, Denny (2016) found that financial anxiety led to increased participation in the form of signing an online petition. Similarly, in the present study, the participation items mainly concerned actions that could be performed online, such as sharing material, signing petitions and contacting authorities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This literature review indicates that anxiety influences attitudes, such that it increases a preference for what is known and safe, decreases support for risky policies (Huddy et al., 2007) and that it influences political behavior, such as voting for the safe option (Bäck et al., 2020), leads to increased deliberation (MacKuen et al., 2010), and increases the likelihood of other low‐cost political actions (Denny, 2016). Hence, it seems that anxiety may have some effects both on political attitudes and political behavior, but more research on this link is clearly needed.…”

Section: Emotions In Political Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotions during the Covid‐19 pandemic: Fear, anxiety, and anger as mediators between threats and policy support and political actions

Renström

Bäck

2021

J Applied Social Pyschol

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The Covid‐19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of most people. It has been described as the most severe global health disaster of modern times by the United Nations. No doubt such a major crisis influences what citizens think of different policies, and how they become politically active, not to mention, the forceful emotional experiences that the Covid‐19 pandemic brings. This study evaluates how emotions affect support for policies related to restricting the spread of the virus and economic assistance, and how emotions affect intentions to engage politically. In an experiment (N = 1,072), we manipulated emotional reactions to threat by highlighting different aspects of the pandemic. Our findings show that different experimental treatments elicit different emotions, and that fear, anxiety, and anger are all related to policy support and political action intentions, but in different ways. Fear and anger predict support for restrictive policies to limit the spread of the virus, while anxiety predicts support for economic policies. Anger and anxiety, but not fear, increase intentions to engage politically. Hence, we find support for a mechanism where different aspects of the Covid‐19 crisis evoke different emotional reactions, which in turn affects policy support and political actions differently.

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Section: Expectations About Emotions and Policies In Relation To The Covid‐19 Pandemicsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Emotions In Political Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotions during the Covid‐19 pandemic: Fear, anxiety, and anger as mediators between threats and policy support and political actions

Renström

Bäck

2021

J Applied Social Pyschol

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“…Relatedly, a recent study found that existential anxiety was related to voting for the more secure, status quo, option in the Brexit referenda (Bäck et al, 2020). Another study found that experimentally induced financial anxiety increased political participation when participation was easy and immediate, such as signing an online petition (Denny, 2016). The research mentioned above use mainly experimentally induced anxiety, but there are also individual variations in trait anxiety.…”

Section: Fear and Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The above literature review indicates that anxiety have effects on attitudes, such that it increases a preference for what is known and safe, but also on political behavior such as voting for the safe option (Bäck et al, 2020), or other more low-cost political actions (Denny, 2016). So, it seems that anxiety may have some effects both on political attitudes and political behavior, but more research on this link is clearly needed.…”

Section: Fear and Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotions, policy support and political actions during the Covid-19 pandemic

Renström¹,

Bäck²

2020

Preprint

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The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the lives of most people. It has been described as the most severe global health disaster of modern times by the United Nations. No doubt such a major crisis influences what citizens think of different policies, and how they become politically active, not to mention, the forceful emotional experiences that the Covid-19 pandemic brings. In this study, we evaluate how emotions affect support for policies related to restricting the spread of the virus and economic assistance, and how emotions affect intentions to engage politically. In an experiment (N = 1072), we manipulated emotional reactions by highlighting different aspects of the pandemic. Our findings show that the different experimental treatments elicit different emotional reactions, and that fear, anxiety and anger are all related to policy support and political action intentions, but in different ways. Fear and anger predict support for restrictive policies to immediately limit the virus, while anxiety predicts support for economic policies. Anger and anxiety, but not fear, increase intentions to engage politically. Hence, we find support for a mechanism where different aspects of the covid-19 crisis elicit different emotional reactions, which in turn affects policy support and political actions differently.

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Political Underrepresentation Among Public Benefits Recipients: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data

Chizeck

Fong

Goldstein

et al. 2023

Urban Affairs Review

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People receiving government assistance have personal stakes in the political process and intimate knowledge of policy implementation. However, data limitations have made it hard to measure voting among those receiving assistance across various programs. Using linked administrative data from a large county in Pennsylvania, merged with the Pennsylvania voter file, we calculate voting rates among benefits recipients. We find that people receiving means-tested benefits (cash assistance, food assistance, health insurance, disability benefits, childcare, and housing) vote at just over half the rate of other county residents (45 percent compared with 84 percent in 2020). In the 2020 election, public benefits recipients comprised over 20 percent of the voting-eligible population but only 12 percent of voters. To the extent that benefits recipients are more supportive of generous welfare policy than nonrecipients and more familiar with administrative burdens programs impose, this underrepresentation may obscure popular preferences for social welfare provision and shape politicians’ attentiveness to program design.

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The Good Intention Gap: Poverty, Anxiety, and Implications for Political Action

Cited by 4 publications

References 60 publications

Emotions during the Covid‐19 pandemic: Fear, anxiety, and anger as mediators between threats and policy support and political actions

Emotions during the Covid‐19 pandemic: Fear, anxiety, and anger as mediators between threats and policy support and political actions

Emotions, policy support and political actions during the Covid-19 pandemic

Political Underrepresentation Among Public Benefits Recipients: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data

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