The Impact of Candidate Names and Accomplishments on Support.

The Impact of Group Influence

For both liberal and conservative participants, the effect of reference group information overrode that of policy content. If their party endorsed it, liberals supported even a harsh welfare program, and conservatives supported even a lavish one (Cohen, 2003).

We tend to believe that our political beliefs are based our own moral values when they tend to be more influenced by social factors through group influence.With the study above being an example of how individuals will change their beliefs if they hear their political party is endorsing a policy.

Candidate Name

• Construct definition
  • The name of either Trump or Biden
• Operational definition -To manipulate the name attached to accomplishment, by randomly attaching Trump’s or Biden’s name when informing the participants who the description they will read is about, participants completed the first task reading name who the description is about either Trump or Biden. The first version is Biden’s name attached to a description they will hear. The second version is trumps name attached to a description they will hear.

Accomplishments

• Construct definition
  • A description of Trumps or Biden’s accomplishments in office
• Operational definition To manipulate accomplishments attached to the candidate, by randomly attaching a description of Biden’s or Trump’s time in office. Version 1 will be a description of Biden’s accomplishments in office participants will read. Version 2 will be a description of Trump’s accomplishments in office that participants will read.

Support for Candidate

• Construct definition
  • The measure of support for the candidate presidential run.
• Operational definition To measure the degree of support for the candidate participants will be asked the extent they would support the candidate’s presidential run, participants be asked this question and will answer on a scale from 1-9 (one being the lowest degree of support with 9 being the highest degree of support).

Hypotheses

I predicted that the participants support for a candidate will be more impacted by the name of the candidate rather than the accomplishments of the candidate. I predict that the condition of Trump’s name attached with Trump’s accomplishments will have similar support to the condition Trump’s name attached to Biden’s accomplishments. I predict that the condition of Biden’s name attached with Trump’s accomplishments will have similar support to the condition Biden’s name attached to Biden’s accomplishments.

Results

My Figure

Discussion

• One limitation of this study is its external validity, or generalizability, to broader populations due to small sample size.
• One strength of this study is its practical significance
• One implication importance of branding and framing in political campaigns.

Political Opinion is Impacted by Group Influence

• These findings contribute to our understanding of the factors driving voter behavior and highlight the importance of considering both party affiliation and candidate branding in political campaigns.
  • The reputation of a candidate influences voter behavior so with this knowledge we can better choose candidate who can earn good public sentiment