Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper, we focus on citizens’ emotional reactions to address a puzzle in Dutch politics, namely the mechanism on the basis of which Dutch voters decide on their vote preferences. There is an ongoing debate in the Netherlands on the relative role of candidate considerations for vote preferences, and the significance of party oriented voting (van Wijnen 2000; Aarts 2001; van Holsteyn and Irwin 2003). The theory of affective intelligence provides the theoretical framework to explain the role of affective dynamics in regulating the use of partisan considerations and habitual voting versus the use of campaign relevant information such as candidate characteristics. When anxiety is absent voters automatically rely on previously learned routines and party identification as a determinant of vote choice, but under conditions of uncertainty and increased anxiety citizens abandon partisanship and ideology and rely more on issue choice and candidate characteristics. We show that the theory of affective intelligence explains electoral behavior also a parliamentary democracy based on coalition government. We find that the emotional reactions of Dutch voters towards their leaders can point to the conditions under which party heuristics vs. candidate preferences determine party evaluations.