Dog-Whistle Politics: Multivocal Communication and Religious Appeals

This paper explores how multivocal appeals, meaning appeals that have distinct meanings to different audiences, work with respect to religious language. Religious language is common in politics, but there is great variation in its effectiveness. I argue that multivocal appeals can resonate as religi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political behavior 2015-03, Vol.37 (1), p.3-26
Main Author: Albertson, Bethany L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Interpersonal communication
Original Paper
Political campaigns
Political Science
Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International Studies
Politics
Religion
Sociology
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Summary:This paper explores how multivocal appeals, meaning appeals that have distinct meanings to different audiences, work with respect to religious language. Religious language is common in politics, but there is great variation in its effectiveness. I argue that multivocal appeals can resonate as religious with select audiences but have no religious content for other listeners. I test the effectiveness of multivocal and obvious religious appeals experimentally with two national samples: an ingroup that understands the religious connotations in a multivocal appeal and a religiously diverse outgroup that does not. Religious appeals are persuasive for the ingroup, but an obvious religious appeal can be politically costly by triggering negative reactions among outgroup members, while the religious meaning in a multivocal appeal eludes them. Obvious religious appeals are costly in the diverse audience because of different preferences over the appropriate role for religion in political speech.
ISSN:0190-9320
1573-6687
DOI:10.1007/s11109-013-9265-x