{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.021079691516709513, 'fraction_numerical': 0.006169665809768638, 'mean_word_length': 6.315789473684211, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
“Dirty Politics”: The Role of Disgust Sensitivity in Voting

A growing body of research indicates that disgust sensitivity plays an important role in politics. Indeed, preliminary evidence indicates that disgust sensitivity predicts voting behavior. However, the processes that explain this association are unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine whether disgust sensitivity predicted voting intentions and behavior in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and to test whether these associations were mediated by sociopolitical values, party affiliation, and attitudes toward political candidates. Prior to the 2012 election, participants completed measures of disgust sensitivity, right-wing authoritarianism, party affiliation, attitudes toward the political candidates (i.e., Barack Obama and Mitt Romney), and voting intentions. After the 2012 election, participants reported their voting behavior. After accounting for prejudice toward African Americans, greater disgust sensitivity was significantly associated with lower intention to vote for Obama versus Romney and lower likelihood of actually voting for Obama. Disgust sensitivity was also associated with more conservative sociopolitical values, a greater likelihood of Republican Party affiliation, a lower likelihood of Democratic Party affiliation, more negative attitudes toward Obama, and more positive attitudes toward Romney. Conservative sociopolitical values, party affiliation, and attitudes toward political candidates independently mediated the association between disgust sensitivity and voting intentions. Conservative sociopolitical values and political candidate attitudes mediated the association between disgust sensitivity and voting behavior. These findings demonstrate the importance of disgust sensitivity for political attitudes and behavior. Further, mechanisms through which disgust sensitivity is implicated within voting tendencies are identified.