Why We Vote the Way We Vote: Key Social Psychology Theories that Influence Voters

Abstract

The Presidential Election of 2016 was unique and very relevant to social psychology because of its candidates and their followers. The candidates were Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They were unparalleled because of their backgrounds and past behaviors. Clinton was a woman with copious amounts of experience, yet she created a worrisome email scandal, while Trump was a very wealthy man with no political experience, questionable values, and a controversial past (Jacobson, 2016).The voters were also unique in this particular season because of their strong convictions for their candidate. Overall, social psychology played an especially critical role in the 2016 election cycle. This paper will address voter behavior in light of key theories in social psychology.