Republican voters show leniency toward moral misconduct by party members, study finds

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Let It Burn!

When politicians commit moral transgressions, how do voters respond? A recent study published in American Politics Research sought to answer this question by examining whether partisan voters in the United States differ in their desire to punish politicians for moral violations. The findings reveal intriguing differences between Republican and Democratic voters.

“Annemarie Walter and I have been working for several years on the question of the degree to which voters own moral values anchor their responses to politicians who violate them. The rise of Donald Trump seems to have changed the landscape in the U.S., so that violations of moral precepts that would have sunk any candidate in the past seem to have no discernible effect on his support,” said study author David P. Redlawsk, the James R. Soles Professor of Political Science at the University of Delaware and author of A Citizen’s Guide to the Political Psychology of Voting.

“We began with studies in the U.S. that examined whether the moral foundations people hold influenced their emotional responses to transgressive politicians. We found that while deeply held moral values do anchor some level of emotional response, partisanship seems to play a stronger role. Moral foundations seem to be malleable, rather than foundational, when partisanship is involved.”



“This latest paper expands this work by looking at a different outcome – the desire to punish politicians for moral transgression. Where our focus on emotions is about how voters feel, this paper looks at what action (punishment) voters believe should be taken against such politicians. We measure desire to punish with a set of potential actions that might be taken, from requiring an apology, to restoring damage caused, getting a warning from a party leader, and being reported to authorities, to being removed from office.”
 
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