Negative Partisanship as Outgroup Derogation – Effects on Political Attitudes and Voting Behaviour

Party identification has become one of the most used concepts in election studies for explaining individual voting behaviour as well as voting turnout. Although negative partisanship is explicitly part of the theoretical concept by Campbell et al. (1960: 121), it is rarely analyzed. Instead, only positive party identification is usually taken into account. Up to now, we do not know much about negative partisanship and its effects. The existing studies are often exploratory, rely on proxy measures or do not separate consistently between the identity and attitudinal dimension of partisanship. By relying on social identity theory, I will be able to conceptualize negative partisanship as outgroup derogation and measure it accordingly. I am adding a new facet by using data from a German three-wave panel survey that was conducted online in 2013. Employing measures from these surveys enables me to analyze negative partisanship and its impacts more thoroughly.