Republicans Should Vote: Partisan Conceptions of Electoral Participation in Campaign 2016

Abstract

Research has identified differences in partisan communication styles, cognitive processing, values, and cultures. This article assesses if there are also differences in how Democrats and Republicans conceive of electoral participation. We submitted 1,730 open-ended responses from a 2016 survey prompt soliciting thoughts and feelings about voting to computerized content analysis. Findings show that Republicans employed more confident and less negative language than Democrats in their responses. Additionally, a close read of the Republican statements reveals how they expressed that their electoral participation matters. Our conclusion addresses how the traditional ideals often associated with the Grand Old Party may make them a more duty-based constituency valuing voting more than their less conservative peers.