ABSTRACT
This chapter provides to enrich information-processing models of citizens' behavior during election campaigns. It demonstrates that two distinct dynamic emotional responses play influential roles during election campaigns: anxiety and enthusiasm. The chapter suggests that the democratic process may not be undermined by emotionality as is generally presupposed. It argues that people use emotions as tools for efficient information processing and thus enhance their abilities to engage in meaningful political deliberation. The chapter describes the ability of political leaders to generate enthusiasm stimulates political involvement. It shows that anxiety, rather than enthusiasm, moves people to learn policy-related information about candidates. The chapter explains the anxiety works cooperatively with learning to shift attention to political matters and to diminish reliance on habit in voting decisions. Anxiety, responding to threat and novelty, stimulates attention toward the campaign and political learning and discourages reliance on habitual cues for voting.
