Coded Appeals and Political Gains: Exploring the Impact of Racial Dogwhistles on Political Support

Political parties have incentives to appeal to diverse voters to maximize support. This study examines the effect of politicians exploiting dogwhistles—expressions that convey hidden messages to specific audiences while escaping notice by the majority—for this purpose. Findings from a word replaceme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journalism & mass communication quarterly 2024-10
Main Authors: Lindgren, Elina, Rönnerstrand, Björn, Rettenegger, Gregor, Breitholtz, Ellen, Cooper, Robin, Sayeed, Asad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication Studies
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Jämförande språkvetenskap och lingvistik
Kommunikationsvetenskap
political communication
political dogwhistles
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
public opinion
racial cues
Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier)
survey experiment
Sweden
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Summary:Political parties have incentives to appeal to diverse voters to maximize support. This study examines the effect of politicians exploiting dogwhistles—expressions that convey hidden messages to specific audiences while escaping notice by the majority—for this purpose. Findings from a word replacement test and a survey experiment assessing the utility of racial dogwhistles in Sweden suggest that dogwhistling can aid politicians in gaining support from in-groups while retaining backing from out-groups; for example, “suburban gang” (dogwhistle) elicits more support than “immigrant gang.” Results suggest that dogwhistling is effective beyond the U.S. context and for different forms of political support.
ISSN:1077-6990
2161-430X
DOI:10.1177/10776990241280373