Will fouls in politics be punished? An experiment on the effect of incivility on the support for the sender and for the political system
Jürgen Maier
Abstract
There is a widespread concern in Western democracies that political communication is increasingly becoming “nasty, negative and uncivil” ( Shea and Fiorina, 2013 ). Whereas opinions differ on the question whether a certain level of negativity is “good” or “bad” for democracy, judgments about incivility are quite clear-cut: incivility – i.e. the violation of the norms of politeness, e.g. by using rude language, exaggerations, or interrupting the political opponent – is usually seen as a threat. Although empirical analyses of the consequences of uncivil political discourse are rare, there is evidence that incivility has a negative impact on candidate evaluation and political trust. In contrast, other studies do not confirm these results. Unfortunately, most of the research done on incivility refers to the United States. The aim of the chapter is to investigate the impact of uncivil messages in Germany. Based on an experimental study with N=1107 subjects we demonstrate that the uncivil behavior of a well-known politician (Sigmar Gabriel, chairman of the Social Democrats and vice chancellor) on TV has – in general – a negative impact on his evaluation. In addition, his uncivil statements also influence the evaluation of politicians as a group. “Do you know what the most important difference between politics and sports is? In politics, fouls will not be punished.” 1 Markus Söder, former Bavarian secretary of finance, state development, and homeland and current Prime Minister of Bavaria