Emotions and Electoral Behaviour

Abstract

In the last decades are increasingly numerous contributions that underpin the importance of emotions in political decision-making, and specifically in the political and electoral behaviour. The voting decision cannot be explained solely by rational elements, as a result of processing of information, but it is conditioned by the emotions they generate in the citizens the multiple political inputs they receive, both from political parties, and especially from the leaders. This approach to the study of electoral behaviour becomes more important with the changes of the party system that are taking place in some European countries, the strong eruption of populist political parties and even parties considered extreme right wing, and whit a political discourse that usually appeals to the emotions. There are many contributions that point to the importance of the emotional component (Nussbaum 1994, 2001; Neuman et al., 2007; Ciu et al., 2015; Neuman et al.). The theory of "affective intelligence" (Marcus et al. 2000, 2006 and 2017), studies of Redwlask (2006) about the emotions in the processing of information policy or the importance of the image and its effect/affect (Coleman, 2015) are a small example of the novel and interdisciplinary nature of these approaches. As a complement to the classical theories of explanation of political behaviour, which are unable to respond to some of the phenomena that occur in Europe in recent years, this approach seeks to analyse the role of emotions in the voting decision process, as well as its relationship with some of the most recent developments in some European countries, such as the above-mentioned rise of populisms and widespread discontent toward the elites and political parties.