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Feeling their pain : why voters want leaders who care /

Systematically examining why voters perceive some politicians as compassionate, whereas others are perceived as cold and aloof, this text finds that when Americans evaluate whether a politician "cares about people like me," they are looking for different types of commonalities that link th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McDonald, Jared (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2023.
Subjects:
Political leadership > United States.
Compassion > Political aspects > United States.
Compassion > Aspect politique > États-Unis.
POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Democracy.
Political Ideologies.
Political leadership
United States
Politics & government.
Politics and Government.
Electronic books.
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Cover
  • Feeling Their Pain
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1. Introduction
  • 1.1 Biden and a Return to Compassionate Politics?
  • 1.2 Self-​Interested Compassion: Defining Key Terms
  • 1.3 Trump and the Paradox of Emotional Empathy
  • 1.4 Compassion's Importance on Voter Behavior
  • 1.5 Overview of the Book
  • 2. Who Cares? Why Compassion Matters in the Era of Polarization
  • 2.1 Partisan Polarization and Models of Electoral Accountability
  • 2.2 Wading into the Debate over the Importance of Candidate Traits
  • 2.3 Compassion and the Partisan Lens Hypothesis
  • 2.4 Who Cares? Let's Ask Voters
  • 2.5 Who Cares? Let's Ask Campaigns
  • 2.6 Compassion in Presidential Elections: 1992-​2020
  • 2.7 A Case Study: Impact of Compassion in the Maryland Democratic Senate Primary
  • 2.8 Summary
  • Appendix
  • 3. Empathy Through Commonality
  • 3.1 The 2008 "Huckaboom" and a Theory of Political Compassion
  • 3.2 How Do Voters Conceptualize Compassion? Empathy vs. Sympathy
  • 3.3 Empathy and the Sincerity Barrier
  • 3.4 Dimensions of Empathy
  • 3.5 Experiential Empathy
  • 3.6 Emotional Empathy
  • 3.7 Identity-​Based Empathy
  • 3.8 Race and the 2008 Election of Barack Obama
  • 3.9 Summary
  • Appendix: Survey Design, Instruments, and Results
  • 4. Compassion, Gender, and Parenthood
  • 4.1 Motherhood and Compassion
  • 4.2 Research on Gender and Character
  • 4.3 Gender Stereotyping and Backlash Effects
  • 4.4 Experimental Evidence on Penalties for Going Against Type
  • 4.5 Commonalities Through Gender and Parenthood
  • 4.6 Summary
  • Appendix: Survey Instruments and Results
  • 5. The Dark Side of Compassion
  • 5.1 The Effect of Character Attacks
  • 5.2 Importance of Compassion in Elections
  • 5.3 Research Design
  • 5.4 Teflon Hypothesis and Hillary Clinton
  • 5.5 Teflon and the Perceptual Screen of Partisanship
  • 5.6 Summary
  • Appendix: Survey Instrument and Results
  • 6. Compassion and Its Value for Politics
  • 6.1 The Importance of Empathy in the Context of Political Sophistication
  • 6.2 What Compassion Means for Electoral Competition amid Partisan Polarization
  • 6.3 What Compassion Means for Women Seeking Elected Office
  • 6.4 Summary
  • References
  • Index