Does Class-Based Campaigning Work? How Working Class Appeals Attract and Polarize Voters

Comparative Political Studies, vol. 54, pp. 723–752

Abstract

Recent elections have featured various politicians directly appealing to the working class, yet we know little about how citizens react to class appeals from candidates. We investigate this question using survey experiments conducted in the United States and Denmark. We show that symbolic class rhetoric substantially influences candidate evaluations and ultimately polarizes these evaluations across class lines. We also unpack how class appeals work and find that while they increase perceptions of representation among working class voters, they have a more limited effect on perceptions of candidates’ ideological position. Our results help explain how class affects voter decision-making and contribute to broader discussions about the role of political elites in activating social cleavages.

Authors 4

1. Joshua Robison corresponding Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University, Den Haag, Netherlands

2. Rune Stubager

   Aarhus University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

3. Mads Thau

   VIVE - The Danish Center for Social Science Research

   Affiliation as printed

   VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark

4. James R. Tilley

   University of Oxford

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Oxford, Oxford, UK