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Abstract

Master narratives are culturally constituted stories that guide individual and collective behavior. Here, we examined Clinton and Trump supporters’ master narratives of election night 2016 and deviations from these narratives in relation to political ideology. In Study 1, Clinton and Trump voters (N = 177) wrote stories about election night and completed measures of liberalism and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Stories were interpreted using an inductive approach, leading to the identification of six narrative dimensions. Three linguistic categories were also considered. Study 2 (N = 341) consisted of a direct replication in which our inductively derived coding system was applied to participants’ responses deductively. Across studies, the narratives constructed by Clinton and Trump supporters differed on five of the six inductive/deductive dimensions and one of the three linguistic dimensions assessed. In addition, many of these dimensions, which included “redemption” and “hope for America’s future,” were associated with liberalism and RWA.

Keywords

master narratives 2016 presidential election redemption contamination

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The Cultural Psychology of Clinton and Trump Supporters

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