Does music affect citizens' evaluations of candidates?

Area of Science:

• Political Science
• Psychology
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Political candidates utilize music in campaign advertisements to shape voter perceptions of personal attributes.
• The empirical validity of music's influence on perceived candidate traits, crucial for voting decisions, remains uncertain.
• Understanding the manipulation potential of music on trait perceptions is vital for electoral analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically investigate the effect of music in political campaign ads on voter perceptions of candidate traits.
• To determine if music significantly influences perceptions of competence, honesty, leadership, and compassion.

Main Methods:

• An online survey experiment was conducted with 362 participants between October 30 and November 12, 2020.
• Participants were exposed to five campaign ads, randomly assigned to either original music or no music conditions.
• Post-exposure, participants evaluated candidates on competency, honesty, leadership, and compassion.

Main Results:

• Music marginally influenced perceptions of candidate competency, honesty, and leadership.
• No statistically significant effect of music was found on perceptions of candidate compassion.
• The study provides empirical evidence on the nuanced impact of music in political advertising.

Conclusions:

• Music in political campaign ads has a limited, though present, effect on specific candidate trait perceptions.
• Perceptions of compassion appear less susceptible to musical influence compared to competence, honesty, and leadership.
• Findings suggest strategic, yet constrained, use of music in political campaigns to shape voter judgment.