Journal of Electoral Studies

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Home Issues Backissues Volume 31, No.1 Political Emotions and the 2016 Presidential Election in Taiwan

Political Emotions and the 2016 Presidential Election in Taiwan

Lu-huei Chen
2018 / 11
Volume 25, No.2

pp.31-53
10.6612/tjes.201811_25(2).0002
Paper

Abstract

This study will examine how emotions might affect people’s choice of vote. I will employ the 2016 Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS 2016) to see how voters’ emotions toward major presidential candidates affect their vote choices. Previous research argues that some positive emotions, such as hope and pride, and some negative emotions, such as anxiety and fear, might play critical roles in shaping citizens’ opinions. For an open-seat presidential election, looking forward and reasoning back, voters employ hopeful and fearful emotions to make their voting decisions. As expected, voters with a fearful feeling toward Tsai Ing-wen are less likely to support her. We also find that those who are angry with Chu Li-luan tend not to vote for him. Emotions shed some light on our understanding of voting behavior in Taiwan.

Keywords

emotions

presidential election

Taiwan