Political Responses against Terrorism and Hypothetical Voting Intention.

• Main Author: Sandescu, Ioana
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2011
• Subjects: hypothetical voting; political response; terrorism; Communication; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Social Influence and Political Communication
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1283; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2474&context=etd

This paper explores the impact of political responses against terrorism and how they are linked to hypothetical voting intention. After September 11, 2001, terrorism became a major concern of democratic governments and their residents. Terrorism poses a constant unseen threat that people want to feel protected from. The goal of the current study was to examine whether the way political candidates communicate responses to terrorist actions affect the way people vote. The findings indicate that offensive portrayals of terrorism brought in more hypothetical votes than defensive ones. These data have the potential to help the general public better understand political messages related to the subject of terrorism along with facilitating communication during future possible crisis caused by terrorist attacks.