Examining how political efficacy moderates affective polarization
Democratic elections are like a long competition—passionate voters invest enormous attention and belief in their candidates. Regardless of the final outcome, people inevitably experience emotional highs and lows that ripple long after election day.
Professor Jing-Hsing Wang of National Cheng Kung University, using data from the Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study (TEDS) 2021 large-scale baseline survey, examined how political efficacy moderates affective polarization. The findings show:
Voters who are losers or bystanders in an election display higher levels of affective polarization compared to winners.
As political efficacy increases, the affective polarization of losers and bystanders gradually decreases, but surprisingly, the polarization of winners actually intensifies.
👉 Political Efficacy: An individual’s belief in their ability to understand and influence political affairs, encompassing the confidence and effectiveness felt when participating in politics.
👉 Affective Polarization: Emotional divisions rooted in political identity, driven by dislike, hostility, and distrust toward opposing groups, creating an “us vs. them” mentality.
The health of democracy depends on consensus and communication among citizens. In today’s global climate of political polarization, these findings reveal the crucial role of political efficacy in reducing emotional divides among voters, thereby easing partisan conflict.
Do you also have “election syndrome”? To test whether this phenomenon is common in Taiwan, Professor Wang further used the TEDS database to examine four different election years, uncovering many intriguing patterns. Curious readers can check out his publications or download the data directly from #TEDS ⬇️!
Original links：The Differences of Affective Polarization between Electoral Losers and Winners: The Moderating Role of Political Efficacy
