Active vs. Passive Ambivalent Voters: Implications for Interactive Political Communication and Participation

Abstract

Voters express different attitudes toward competing political parties and the issues they support. In this study, a polytomous latent class analysis of their opinions regarding party-divided issues identifies several types of voters and highlights the distinction between active and passive ambivalent voters. Such a distinction is necessary to clarify the relationship between party ambivalence and political participation. Drawing on research into ambivalent attitudes, the current study postulates that active ambivalent citizens adopt amplification strategies, whereas passive ambivalent citizens adopt avoidance strategies. A comparison between them further indicates that active ambivalent citizens are motivated to fulfill their civic duties and be accountable when they seek political information, and they express more political interest than their passive counterparts. A three-wave panel survey confirms the influence of ambivalent voter types (wave 1) on political participation (wave 3), according to voters’ political orientation (i.e., civic duty motives to seek political information and interest in politics) and their interactive political communication (interactive engagement with digital political information and interpersonal political discussions) (wave 2).