Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Anger Can Be Good for Political Campaigns but Bad for Democracy

Dora Mekouar

   Rage is a powerful motivator in American politics, capable of boosting
   voter motivation and filling campaign coffers, according to political
   science and public policy professors who have studies the matter.

   They say thatstoking voter anger helped elevate Donald Trump to the
   White House in 2016, and helped Democrats retake control of the House
   of Representatives in 2018.

   "Politicians themselves are deliberately seeking to make Americans
   angry and they do this because when people are angry, they tend to vote
   loyally for their own party's slate of candidates up and down the
   ballot," says Steven Webster, assistant professor of political science
   at Indiana University.

   "So, put simply, an angry voter is a loyal voter and because
   politicians are concerned with getting reelected, they make us angry to
   further that goal," he added.

   The strategic use of anger is not new, according to Webster,who says
   it's beenmarshalledin politics since the country's founding. Webster
   explored the phenomenon in his book, "American Rage: How Anger Shapes
   Our Politics."

   "Trump is certainly a very blatant, for lack of a better word, example
   of politicians' use of anger," he says. "Democratic politicians use
   anger just as much as Republicans do.'¦In fact, Democrats are quite
   angry right now. It's kind of ironic, Joe Biden has this whole thing of
   saying he wants to restore the soul of America, but Joe Biden and his
   allies are still eliciting anger at Donald Trump, because anger is an
   action-oriented motivation."

   A [1]recent poll finds that 61% of Biden supporters say they would be
   angry if Trump wins, while 37% of Trump supporters say theywouldbe
   angry if Biden wins.

   "If you can get people to feel angry, that's a very useful political
   tool if the balance is thrown to the side of going with this guttural
   feeling rather than your rational thoughts," saysBonnie Stabile,
   professor of public policy at George Mason University.

   While stirring up and harnessing anger might be good for political
   campaigns,the academics sayit can ultimately erode Americans' trust in
   the federal government and, more broadly, faith in the democratic
   system.

   A [2]Pew Research poll finds that only 1 in 5 U.S. adults, just 20%,
   trust the federal government to "do the right thing" just about always
   or most of the time.

   "Trusting government tends to facilitate a culture in which we can have
   bipartisan cooperation," Webster says. "Trusting government perpetuates
   support for the social welfare programs that seek to make society
   better off, things like Medicare and Medicaid andSocialSecurity. And
   so, without this trust in government, it's really hard to sustain
   things that we've really come to take for granted as Americans."

References

   1. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/08/13/election-2020-voters-are-highly-engaged-but-nearly-half-expect-to-have-difficulties-voting/
   2. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/09/14/americans-views-of-government-low-trust-but-some-positive-performance-ratings/

.