Feeling Their Pain: Why Voters Want Leaders Who Care

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