SSU Psychology Department's New Publication Shines Light on Political Trends
Sonoma State University Psychology Chair and Professor Heather Smith recently published an article in the Social Justice Research journal alongside SSU Psychology Alum Desiree Ryan, who is now a professor at San Jose State University.
The article, titled “Relative Deprivation & Willingness to Protest the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election”, analyzes neighborhood dynamics as they relate to voting statistics in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
Below is a summary of the article:
The 2020 U.S. presidential election presented a unique opportunity to assess U.S. voters’ willingness to engage in election-oriented collective action. Both presidential candidates invoked neighborhood-based comparisons to support their policies, the political parties were polarized, and President Trump, who lost the election, and his supporters, claimed the election results were illegitimate. Before and after the November 2020 election, 293 self-reported Trump voters and 370 self-reported Biden voters completed the same survey. Both before and after the election, resentment and anger about the perceived deprivation of one’s neighborhood predicted election-related collective action among Biden voters. For Trump voters, before the election, anxiety about neighborhood deprivation predicted collective action. However, the perceived legitimacy of the election emerged as a notable predictor of collective action for Trump voters after the election. The results show how neighborhood-based economic comparisons can help make sense of people’s willingness to protest election outcomes when political messages focus on traditional economic narratives but for Trump voters, election illegitimacy narrative may have supplanted local economic concerns after the election.