Partisan identity, ideological orientations, and the differential criticisms of ingroup and outgroup leadership: An examination of the 2024 U.S. election

Abstract

Do partisans ever oppose their candidates during U.S. presidential elections? We explored this question across two studies (N = 1106) using U.S. Republicans and Democrats in the context of the 2024 Presidential Election. We propose that partisan identity and ideological orientations related to different criticisms of in-group and out-group leaders, which differently relates to level of candidate support. For Democrats, we focused on the ideological orientation of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA). For Republicans, we focused on the ideological belief in democracy. Study 1 measured participants criticisms of in-group and out-group candidates, while Study 2 manipulated the salience of in-group (or out-group) leadership support. Across both studies, stronger partisan identity related to lower levels of in-group criticism, higher levels of out-group criticism, and more leadership support. Importantly, the examined ideological orientation lead Democrats (but not Republicans) to oppose their in-group leader. Manipulating the salience of leadership support did not impact these relationships.