The Psychology of Elections: How the 2016 & 2020 US Elections help explain the psychology behind the process!
It is true that elections can have many consequences, more profound than one can imagine! The elections of 2016 & 2020 are no exception to this... The power of our vote, cannot be taken likely or underestimated. However, there is in fact an entire psychology about how people feel, think & behave during election season both from a group & individual perspective. It's a psychology that influences the way people vote & who they vote for. This psychology can often make elections confusingly difficult to understand or predict, which often leaves as many questions as it does answers about both the sacred process & the very nature of our elections themselves!
The primal instict of Fear often drives elections:
Lets start with a basic primal instinct that often drives the process, Fear! This emotion is often promoted by the candidates themselves; Fear of the other side, the party, the unknown, and fear of the status quo. The continuation of the known or normalcy can drive fear. When Donald Trump came to power, his election in 2016 was based on & driven by fear. He marketed fear very effectively & used it as the driving force of his campaign. Fear of the immigrants, being afraid of environmental regulations, fear of a perceived “corrupt” competitor: Hillary Clinton, fear of the status quo & the continuation of politics, business as usual in Washington DC. He sold this fear to his base & to the electorate. Regardless of how rationally or factually he was able to prove his case, that was not important! What was important was how he was able to instill fear to his electorate with such passion and intensity, that the facts which would often contradict his case, no longer even mattered!
Fight or Flight often counteracts Logic & Reason:
Logic & reason often have a difficult time counteracting fear, once it is planted in us. According to Harvard medical school “This combination of reactions to stress is also known as the ‘fight-or-flight’ response because it evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling people and other mammals to react quickly to life-threatening situations.” (See Harvard medical school article below, in resource #1). When confronted with a fear inducing situation or in the case of the election, perceived threats to our basic daily lives, it becomes easier to understand how this fear manifests itself. It should be noted that, even if there is no actual threat that can be substantiated with facts or science, people will still believe what they are told by someone who is great at telling it or marketing it to them! It is when this occurs that Fight or flight, which is an impulsive behavior & primal instinct, often counteracts the logic and reason. Sometimes the fear is warranted, however even when there is not actual danger, we might still react impulsively without thinking much about it. In the case of the COVID19 pandemic -economic depression of 2020, and how we perceive our leaders and politicians are (or are not) handling it, this fear may be very real & warranted!
The importance of the Stellar Marketing of Fear in a political campaign:
In the case of 2016, Donald Trump was that stellar marketer. He may not have fully believed what he was selling, but he knew how to sell it in such a way, that it instilled fear in his base. Trump is not the only politician who has done this. All politicians do this to a degree, for it is the fear that ultimately drives people and motivates them to vote! Having a good campaign ad is vital to having a successful political campaign. Being able to market a candidate’s ideas are great, however being able to market that fear of the opposing candidate is even more effective in terms of reaching a voter’s inner most primal psyche!
Fear & Politics in recent history: A short history lesson.
Throughout history, some of the best & worst of our world’s leaders have used fear to run their campaigns. Everyone from Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Franklin D. Roosevelt & Winston Churchill capitalized on this fear for their campaigns & ultimate popularity! For the good or the bad, it has its benefits & rewards. It can be abused and used for destructive purposes in the cases of Hitler & Mussolini. For President FDR & Prime minister Churchill, it was used to rally the US & UK populations for a greater good, of confronting the challenges and devastation of those troubling times. Fear is always going to be a huge factor in elections & politics. How we use it however, whether it be for good or bad purposes, is up to us and the leaders we elect!
How the media drives our fears & can have major control over an election:
Fear is often perpetuated by the media itself, the news in all forms, is also responsible for driving & promoting these fears. However ethical journalists have a responsibility for reporting the facts & not only instilling the fears, which is especially important during an election! Journalism in this day & age it seems has become much more divided, polarizing & opinionated and not as based on factual evidence-based reporting. The fact that media is available 24/7 on our TV, phone, tablets, computers, social media accounts, newspapers and magazines make it all the more accessible and it’s impact all the more powerful! This can greatly impact the elections, both for good & for bad!
How Group think dynamics further divide us & aid in our polarized society:
There is however another factor that helps to drive the fear that is so vital to the election season, and that would be party unity & divisiveness. When people are divided by fear of the “other side”, they often unite stronger with those who share like minded views. In the 2020 election for example, Donald Trump has once again done an incredible job at driving this wedge of divisiveness amongt the two sides & instilling fear of Joe Biden and the “radical left”. He has even managed to stoke fear in the election process itself (regarding mail in ballots)! Ultimately when people become fearful and divided, they unite more with those around them. This further intensifies the fear of the “other side”. There is both safety & power in numbers, and “Group think dynamics” can further intensify these feelings related to the other side (See a Britannica article that further explains the Group think theory, below in resource #2). This is not really unique to the 2016 or 2020 elections, as it has been occuring in populations for as long as there has been Democracy. People in groups often engage in behaviors or actions they would not ordinarily do on their own. The group often encourages one another & builds off the individual fears to further intensify the group’s emotions, behaviors and perception of truth. Morals, values & individual beliefs might be put aside for the larger “group think” dynamic, which may be a distortion of the truth and reality! If not kept in check, this can have serious & sometimes very dangerous consequences. According to the Britannica article, this type of thinking might have impacted the reasoning behind the Vietnam & Iraq wars! It could have also impacted the politically divided & partisan response to the COVID19 pandemic. People will often believe what they want to believe about something when it is normalized & validated by the groups they most identify with, and will even deny facts and truth if it contradicts the larger group mindset & belief!
Making the best choice in the election:
Sometimes reacting to fear is the easy part. In the case of “Fight or Flight theory” we often do it without even realizing it, the challenge sometimes is looking beyond our emotions & looking at the logic or reason behind our fears. Group dynamics & the concerns of being part of that group must not get in the way of our personal best judgement. It is easy to just go along with the norms of the group we feel most connected with, however we must always try to look at the evidence to support our decisions and how who we vote for will personally affect us & our lives the most! To make a sound decision, we must always look beyond the fear and emotional factors & look at the facts, the science and evidence to support our decisions, to make the best & healthiest choice possible!
Bottom line: There may always be some regret in who we end up voting for & no candidate will ever be perfect or as pure in the way we may want them to be. This was true in 2016, as it may be in 2020. The hope is however, that we will know that we had made the best decision voting for the candidate that mostly fits our worldview, values & ideals. Fear is always going to be part of our decision making, regardless of who the candidate is. This has been proven historically, presently & will likely be true in the future! We may always be somewhat influenced by the group’s mentality whether of our party (Democrat, Republican or some other party), our family or friends; and at times we may be divided as a nation, because of it. This has also occurred over many times during our history, but we must never lose our sense of hope! However perhaps the most important thing is to turn our hope and fear into a positive productivity! We must be an active participate in our democracy! Ultimately our Psyche will benefit, because active participation in our democracy can greatly improve our own self esteem, sense of empowerment and emotional well-being, by knowing we have some power and control over the process and our collective lives, in fact more so than we may imagine! So in conclusion, let your voice be your vote & may the best candidate win!…In 2020 and beyond!!
Resources:
1-https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
2- https://www.britannica.com/science/groupthink
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