Losing Hurts: The Happiness Impact of Partisan Electoral Loss

Pierce, Lamar; Rogers, Todd; Snyder, Jason A.

doi:10.1017/xps.2015.8

Cited by 79 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The notion of the negativity bias is further reinforced when examining its implications for electoral outcomes. Pierce, Rogers, and Snyder () employ a regression discontinuity design in the context of the 2012 general elections in the United States to examine the emotional well‐being of partisan winner and losers, shortly before and after the elections. They show that partisan losers significantly decrease their reported happiness in the days after the election.…”

Section: Toward a Theory Of Partisan‐biased Citizen Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen satisfaction under changing political leadership: The role of partisan motivated reasoning

Jilke

2017

Governance

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There exists a gap in our understanding of what citizen satisfaction evaluations actually represent. While recent years have witnessed a move away from performance‐based models to cognitive‐implicit models of citizen satisfaction, the inherent political nature of government, its institutions, and services has been largely ignored. Drawing on the functional responsibility chain between political principals and governmental, public‐service‐delivering institutions, we outline a theory of citizen satisfaction that accounts for the political nature of these institutions. In the context of two consecutive general elections, we find a partisan bias in citizen satisfaction with government and the legislative branch, but not for institutions that are more clearly separated from national government. These mixed findings are suggestive of a dispersion effect of the partisan bias in citizen satisfaction, namely, that citizens are less likely to use their partisan lenses in cases where the responsibility of political principals is dispersed across multiple actors.

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Section: Toward a Theory Of Partisan‐biased Citizen Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen satisfaction under changing political leadership: The role of partisan motivated reasoning

Jilke

2017

Governance

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“…Finally, we have no strong predictions regarding the amount of time that the effects of the election results on work engagement and job performance will persist. Prior research on the 2012 US presidential election found that although Republicans were less happy in the week following their candidate’s loss, happiness levels returned to baseline afterwards (Pierce, Rogers, & Snyder, ). Additionally, some scholars have argued that most individuals are resilient and bounce back even from significant trauma (Bonanno, ), suggesting that recovery may be likely.…”

Section: Duration Of the Effect Of Election Results On Work Engagemenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, perhaps the unexpected loss of one’s political party or candidate led to feelings of sadness or anger, which then disrupted work engagement. Along these lines, Republicans experienced decreased happiness on the day after Barack Obama’s election win in 2012, and happiness returned to baseline after approximately one week (Pierce et al, ). Thus, there is evidence that presidential elections are associated with changes in emotions over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Voters often feel a strong personal stake in election outcomes because losses represent threats to the status of the individual’s political party as well as themselves. Indeed, the loss of an election by an individual’s preferred political candidate is associated with reduced happiness in the days following the election (Pierce, Rogers, & Snyder, ). It should, therefore, be no surprise that a majority of Americans found the 2016 presidential campaign to be a significant source of stress in their lives (American Psychological Association, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The Effects of US Presidential Elections on Work Engagement and Job Performance

Beck

Shen

2018

Applied Psychology

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We predicted that presidential election results would spill over to influence the work domain. Individuals who voted for the winning candidate were expected to experience increased engagement, whereas individuals who voted for the losing candidate were expected to experience decreased engagement. We tested these predictions within the context of the 2016 US presidential election. Using a sample of 232 working Americans, work engagement and job performance were assessed one week prior to the election, the day after the election, and one week after the election. Contrary to our prediction, individuals who voted for Trump (the winning candidate) did not report increased work engagement, thereby providing no evidence of positive spillover. However, individuals who voted for Clinton (the losing candidate) were less engaged on the day after the election compared to baseline, demonstrating negative spillover. Downstream, work engagement was positively related to job performance. However, these effects were relatively short-lived, as engagement returned to baseline levels within one week following the election. Our results suggest that elections can have important implications for work-related outcomes. From a practical perspective we suggest that to the extent possible it may be prudent to avoid scheduling important work tasks for the days following presidential elections.Political opinions in the United States tend to be highly polarised along liberal versus conservative ideological lines (Bafumi & Shapiro, 2009;Mason, 2014), and political affiliations are often central to an individual's identity and exhibit considerable stability over time (Goren, 2005). As such, US presidential elections are often viewed as competitions, and members of opposing political parties are seen as rivals (Miller & Conover, 2015). Voters often feel a strong personal stake in election outcomes because losses represent threats to the status of the individual's political party as well as themselves.

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“…CivicScience collects over 300,000 survey responses each day via several hundred third-party websites such as newspaper websites, television and radio station websites, and entertainment websites (Pierce, Rogers, and Snyder 2015). CivicScience conducts surveys presented as a series of three questions.…”

Section: Survey Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%