Campaigning to a polarised electorate: emotions and information in real election campaigns

Journal article

Political polarisation has reshaped electoral competition in many democracies, presenting traditional programmatic political parties with a dual challenge: finding ways to make policy-based campaigning resonate with voters without exacerbating partisan divisions. We partner with a mainstream opposition party to implement a field experiment during the 2019 Philippine Senatorial election to compare two common campaign strategies—direct policy-focused canvassing and an emotional engagement component—to assess both their electoral effects and their implications for polarisation. We find that, even in polarised contexts, in-person engagement providing policy information increases votes for the party. Both strategies increase learning, and importantly, neither strategy produces backlash among pro-incumbent voters; if anything, evidence suggests cross-cutting moderating effects. These results suggest that mainstream parties can communicate policy effectively even in highly polarised contexts, and that direct policy and emotional engagement need not exacerbate partisan divides.

Authors: Cruz, C; Labonne, J; Trebbi, F

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Economic Journal
• Article number: ueag058
• Publication date: 2026-05-01
• Acceptance date: 2026-04-27
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueag058
• EISSN: 1468-0297
• ISSN: 0013-0133
• Language: English
• Keywords: elections; campaigning; emotions; polarisation; Philippines