Abstract
This study examines the impact of affect on candidate evaluation and voting intention by conducting an experiment using three treatments: positive, negative, and neutral nonverbal expressions of a fictional congressional office-seeker. Three issues were addressed in the TV interviews. Results show that candidate image exerts a stronger influence on viewers’ voting intention than the candidate’s stance on issues, controlling for viewers’ prior attitudes toward those issues. In addition, negative affect is more powerful than positive, reinforcing the belief that making a good impression will not help a candidate as much as a bad impression will hurt.
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