More Than Politics: How Personality Trait and Media Technology Use Affect Vote Likelihood During the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

Considerable work has been devoted to studying voter behavior in U.S. presidential elections by analyzing their political participation and attitude toward political advertising. Less is known about how other factors may alter voter behavior like personality traits and use of information and communication technology (ICT). This study analyzes vote likelihood among American young voters and their parents (N = 674) after they watched four presidential campaign commercials . It proposes a hierarchical mediation model highlighting the need for cognition (NFC) impact on vote likelihood through the mediation of power use of ICT applications, political participation and trust in negative advertising. This study has revealed both the direct effect of NFC on vote likelihood, and the indirect relationship between NFC and vote likelihood that is mediated by power use of ICT applications. The findings should enrich the literature of vote likelihood by highlighting the effects of need for cognition and ICT usage.

Keywords

U.S. election vote likelihood need for cognition ICT power use political participation negative advertising

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajzen

(1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Allen

R, L.

Chaffe

S. H.

(1979). Mass communication and political participation of Black Americans. In Nimmo

(Eds.), Communication yearbook 3 (p. 519). Transaction Books.

Ansolabehere

Iyengar

Simon

Valentino

(1994). Does attack advertising demobilize the electorate? American Political Science Review, 88(4), 829-838. https://doi.org/10.2307/2082710

Beaulieu

(2014). From voter ID to party ID: How political parties affect perceptions of election fraud in the U.S. Electoral Studies, 35(September), 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2014.03.003

Beesley

Bastiaens

(2020). Globalization and intention to vote: Ihe interactive role of personal welfare and societal context. Review of International Political Economy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1842231

Birch

(2010). Perceptions of electoral fairness and voter turnout. Comparative Political Studies, 43(12), 1601-1622. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414010374021

Blais

St-Vincent

S. L.

(2011). Personality traits, political attitudes and the propensity to vote. European Journal of Political Research, 50(3), 395-417. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01935.x

Bosnjak

Galesic

Tuten

(2007). Personality determinants of online shopping: Explaining online purchase intentions using a hierarchical approach. Journal of Business Research, 60(6), 597-605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.06.008

Bowler

McElroy

Müller

(2018). Voter preferences and party loyalty under cumulative voting: Political behaviour after electoral reform in Bremen and Hamburg. Electoral Studies, 51(February), 93-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2017.10.001

10.

Cacioppo

J. T.

Petty

R. E.

(1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(1), 116-131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.42.1.116

11.

Cacioppo

J. T.

Petty

R. E.

Feinstein

J. A.

Jarvis

W. B. G.

(1996). Dispositional differences in cognitive motivation: The life and times of individuals varying in need for cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 197-253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.197

12.

Cacioppo

J. T.

Petty

R. E.

Kao

C. F.

(1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48(3), 306-307. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4803_13

13.

Cohen

A. R.

Stotland

Wolfe

D. M.

(1955). An experimental investigation of need for cognition. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51(2), 291-294. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0042761

14.

Condon

Holleque

(2013). Entering politics: General self-efficacy and voting behavior among young people. Political Psychology, 34(2), 167-181. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12019

15.

Condra

M. B.

(1992). The link between need for cognition and political interest, involvement, and media usage. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior, 29(3-4), 13-18.

16.

David

C. C.

(2009). Learning political information from the news: A closer look at the role of motivation. Journal of Communication, 59(2), 243-261. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01414.x

17.

Davis

F. D.

(1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319-340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008

18.

Denny

Doyle

(2008). Political interest, cognitive ability and personality: Determinants of voter turnout in Britain. British Journal of Political Science, 38(2), 291-310. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000712340800015X

19.

Duffin

(2021). Voter turnout rate in the presidential election in the United States as of December 7, 2020, by state. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1184621/presidential-election-voter-turnout-rate-state/

20.

File

(2017). Voting in America: A look at the 2016 presidential election. U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2017/05/voting_in_america.html

21.

Finseraas

(2017). The effect of a booming local economy in early childhood on the propensity to vote: Evidence from a natural experiment. British Journal of Political Science, 47(3), 609-629. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123415000277

22.

Fowler

J. H.

Kam

C. D.

(2006). Patience as a political virtue: Delayed gratification and turnout. Political Behavior, 28(2), 113-128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-006-9004-7

23.

Gallego

Oberski

(2012). Personality and political participation: The mediation hypothesis. Political Behavior, 34(3), 425-451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-011-9168-7

24.

Gerber

A. S.

Huber

G. A.

Doherty

Dowling

C. M.

Raso

S. E.

(2011). Personality traits and participation in political processes. Journal of Politics, 73(3), 692-706. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381611000399

25.

Gerber

A. S.

Rogers

(2009). Descriptive social norms and motivation to vote: Everybody’s voting and so should you. Journal of Politics, 71(1), 178-191. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381608090117

26.

Gil de Zúñiga

Diehl

(2019). News finds me perception and democracy: Effects on political knowledge, political interest, and voting. New Media & Society, 21(6), 1253-1271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818817548

27.

Gil

Zúñiga

Weeks

Ardèvol-Abreu

(2017). Effects of the news-finds-me perception in communication: Social media use implications for news seeking and learning about politics. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 22(3), 105-123. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12185

28.

Glynn

C. J.

Huge

M. E.

Lunney

C. A.

(2009). The influence of perceived social norms on college students' intention to vote. Political Communication, 26(1), 48-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600802622860

29.

Golan

G. J.

Banning

S. A.

Lundy

(2008). Likelihood to vote, candidate choice, and the third-person effect: Behavioral implications of political advertising in the 2004 presidential election. American Behavioral Scientist, 52(2), 278-290. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764208321356

30.

Gunther

A. C.

(1992). Biased press or biased public? Attitudes toward media coverage of social groups. Public Opinion Quarterly, 56(2), 147-167. https://doi.org/10.1086/269308

31.

Hayes

A. F.

(2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press. https://www.guilford.com/books/Introduction-to-Mediation-Moderation-and-Conditional-Process-Analysis/Andrew-Hayes/9781462534654

32.

Hill

S. J.

(2020). Following through on an intention to vote: Present bias and turnout. Political Science Research and Methods, 8(4), 803-810. https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2018.56

33.

Holbert

R. L.

Dias

N. C.

Hardy

B. W.

Jamieson

K. H.

Levendusky

M. S.

Renninger

A. S.

Romer

Winneg

K. M.

Pasek

(2021). Exploring the role of media use within an Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) approach to vote likelihood. American Behavioral Scientist, 65(3), 412-431. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764220975054

34.

Infield

(2020, November 16). Americans who get news mainly on social media are less knowledgeable and less engaged. Trust Magazine. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/trust/archive/fall-2020/americans-who-get-news-mainly-on-social-media-are-less-knowledgeable-and-less-engaged

35.

Kim

Lim

(2019). A cross-national study of the influence of parental education on intention to vote in early adolescence: The roles of adolescents’ educational expectations and political socialization at home. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 24(1), 85-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2018.1470993

36.

Kohring

Matthes

(2007). Trust in news media: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. Communication Research, 34(2), 231-252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650206298071

37.

Krupnikov

(2014). How negativity can increase and decrease voter turnout: The effect of timing. Political Communication, 31(3), 446-466. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2013.828141

38.

Ksiazek

T. B.

Kim

S. J.

Malthouse

E. C.

(2019). Television news repertoires, exposure diversity and voting behavior in the 2016 U.S. election. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 96(4), 1120-1144. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018815892

39.

Lee

E. J.

S. Y.

Lee

Kim

H. S.

(2018). Up close and personal on social media: When do politicians’ personal disclosures enhance vote intention? Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(2), 381-403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018754911

40.

Len-Ríos

M. E.

(2017). The politics of Latino publics: Immigration reform, political participation and intention to vote. Public Relations Review, 43(1), 249-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.11.003

41.

Lins de Holanda Coelho

Hanel

J. Wolf

(2020). The very efficient assessment of need for cognition: Developing a six-item version. Assessment, 27(8), 1870-1885. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191118793208

42.

Mowen

J. C.

(2000). The 3M model of motivation and personality: Theory and empirical applications to consumer behavior. Kluwer Academic Press. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780792385431

43.

O’Hara

R. E.

Walter

M. I.

Christopher

A. N.

(2009). Need for cognition and conscientiousness as predictors of political interest and voting strategy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(6), 1397-1416. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00487.x

44.

Petty

R. E.

Cacioppo

J. T.

(1981). Attitudes and persuasion: Classic and contemporary approaches. W.C. Brown.

45.

Pew Research Center. (2017). The partisan divide on political values grows even wider. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-on-political-values-grows-even-wider/

46.

Pinkleton

B. E.

Austin

E. W.

Fortman

K. K.

(1998). Relationships of media use and political disaffection to political efficacy and voting behavior. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 42(1), 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159809364433

47.

Prochazka

Schweiger

(2019). How to measure generalized trust in news media? An adaptation and test of scales. Communication Methods and Measures, 13(1), 26-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2018.1506021

48.

Rentsch

Schaffner

B. F.

Gross

J. H.

(2019). The elusive likely voter: Improving electoral predictions with more informed vote-propensity models. Public Opinion Quarterly, 83(4), 782-804. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfz052

49.

Sadowski

C. J.

Cogburn

H. E.

(1997). Need for cognition in the big-five factor structure. Journal of Psychology, 131(3), 307-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223989709603517

50.

Schoen

Steinbrecher

(2013). Beyond total effects: Exploring the interplay of personality and attitudes in affecting turnout in the 2009 German federal election. Political Psychology, 34(4), 533-552. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12031

51.

Stone

G. W.

Blodgett

J. G.

Nkonge

Cort

K. T.

(2013). The moderating influence of political involvement on voters’ attitudes toward attack ads. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 21(1), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679210106

52.

Suciu

(2019, October 11). More Americans are getting their news from social media. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2019/10/11/more-americans-are-getting-their-news-from-social-media/?sh=5c934c743e17

53.

Sun

Yuan

Payne

J. G.

Zhong

(2005). Leadership attributes salient to Chinese local voters: Correlates of voting intentions among Chinese constituents. American Behavioral Scientist, 49(4), 616-628. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764205280204

54.

Wang

C. H.

(2016). Personality traits, political attitudes and vote choice: Evidence from the United States. Electoral Studies, 44(December), 26-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2016.07.004

55.

Zhong

(2013). From smartphones to iPad: Power users’ disposition toward mobile media devices. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1742-1748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.016

56.

Zhong

Hardin

Sun

(2011). Less effortful thinking leads to more social networking? The associations between the use of social network sites and personality traits. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1265-1271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.01.008