Piecing Together the American Voting Puzzle: How Voters' Personalities and Judgments of Issue Importance Mattered in the 2016 Presidential Election. Issue 1 (4th April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Blankenship, Benjamin T.; Savaş, Özge; Frederick, Jennifer K.; Stewart, Abigail J.
• Is Part Of: Analyses of social issues and public policy. Volume 18:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 172
• Page End: 197
• Publication Date: 2018-04-04
• Subjects: Social policy -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; 361.6105
• DOI: 10.1111/asap.12157
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1529-7489

Abstract

Abstract: In the wake of the 2016 election, which surprised pundits and voters on both the left and the right, there has been renewed interest in understanding what predicts American voters' choices. In this article, we investigate the roles of personality and issue importance in how people voted in the 2016 U.S. election. In this longitudinal study of 403 MTurk workers who voted in the election, we assessed the relations between personality (openness, social dominance orientation, and national identity importance) and issue importance (group rights and social justice, economic rights, and individual and national rights), and voting for Clinton or Trump. Our results indicate that both individual differences and issue importance as measured in July 2016 predicted votes in November. We also found that the links between personality and voting were mediated by issue importance. Implications for political psychology and the study of personality, campaign issues, and voting behavior are discussed.