COLUMBUS – Pessimistic voters may prefer a candidate who uses high-intensity, emotional language, according to a new study.
The study, co-written by David Clementson, a doctoral student in communication Ohio State, appears in the September 2016 issue of Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Clemenston says his findings may help explain the appeal of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to their supporters.
Voters in the experimental study who saw the nation as being in dire economic straits viewed a candidate as more “presidential” when he or she used more emotional language.
“They wanted a candidate whose language was a little over the top, who promised big things to fix the economy,” Clementson said.
Those who thought the country was doing fine, on the other hand, thought candidates sounded more presidential when their language was more restrained.
“The success of each may boil down to which candidate does better matching his or her language intensity with their audience,” Clementson said.
He said voters don’t always want the same kind of language from candidates.
“They want candidates who reflect how they’re feeling at that time about the state of the economy,” he said.
In the 2016 campaign so far, Trump is the candidate who uses the most intense language, so he will appeal to those who are most upset about the direction of the country While Clinton uses a combination of high- and low-intensity language in her speeches, he said.
The study, conducted the study with Paola Pascual-Ferra of Loyola University Maryland and Michael Beatty of the University of Miami involved 304 college students and was conducted just weeks before the 2012 presidential election.
Each student participant was given one of two hypothetical economic scenarios to consider. In one, the national economy is strong, 50 percent of college loans can be forgiven, and recent college graduates have no trouble finding high-paying jobs. In the second scenario, the economy is in recession, the federal government is requiring students to pay some of their student loans early, and college graduates can’t find jobs.
They were then told to read part of a speech that was being given by a presidential candidate and told top rate how “presidential” and how “trustworthy” each candidate sounded in their speeches.
Those who were given the recession scenario thought the candidate who used high-intensity, fiery language sounded most presidential but participants who were given the good-times scenario preferred the candidate who used calmer, less-intense language.