Feeling Politics? How Communication Mediates the Effects of Emotions on Political Participation

Scholars have demonstrated that emotions may play an important role in mobilization. Ordinary people also use affections to help manage their attention to the political world. The mechanism for emotions to translate into political actions is not fully explored, however. To fill this research gap, this study investigates how negative emotions may influence political participation through communication practices as part of the reasoning process. Analyses of a probability survey in Taiwan suggest that only anger promotes political participation. This relationship, however, is not linear and straightforward, as the emotion works through political discussions and disagreements before it affects participation.