A common tactic among populist politicians is to use angry rhetoric to mobilize their base, with the ire often targeted against an out-group that their followers can unify against.  Research from the University of Colorado Boulder highlights how these tactics can create a voter base that is itself very angry, which while it may work in the short-term, has less success in the long-term.

The researchers quizzed around 1,400 volunteers from across the political spectrum.  The volunteers were presented with a number of mock news stories about a recent political debate.  The experiment revealed that anger tends to lead to more anger, with participants who read about a politician from their own party getting enraged by an issue were more likely to say that they themselves were also angered by the issue.  What’s more, those angry voters were then more likely to be politically engaged.

“Anger is a very strong, short-term emotion that motivates people into action,” the researchers say. “But there can be these much more negative implications in the long term. There’s always the potential that anger can turn into rage and violence.”

A divided country

Politicians have always capitalized on anger to win votes and mobilize the electorate, but this has perhaps been taken to a new level in an era in which Trump did so to such an extent that the Capitol was stormed by supporters who believed the election had been rigged.

The findings emerged from an experiment in which volunteers were shown a series of news stories about immigration that featured two candidates for a Congressional seat in Minnesota.  In some of the stories, the fictional politicians would use outrageous language, whereas in others a more neutral tone was adopted.  The results highlight how powerful anger can be politically.

“We report being angrier after seeing our fellow partisans being angry,” the researchers say. “When the other side is angry, it doesn’t seem to affect us much at all.”

For instance, when Democrats read about a fellow Democrat getting angry, they’re far more likely to report feeling angry themselves too.  What is perhaps most interesting, however, is that those supporters who saw the biggest boost in their anger weren’t the diehard devotees but the more moderate supporters.

“The really far left and right are already so amped up,” the researchers explain. “But these weakly-aligned partisans who are notoriously less likely to participate in elections were more susceptible to changing their emotions.”

No doubt the findings will hardly dissuade politicians from utilizing anger to trigger voter behavior, but as voters, it is perhaps worth being mindful of these findings whenever we see politicians being angry.  It’s quite possible that they’re using such emotions to manipulate us into supporting them rather than out of genuine outrage.