Relationship Between Electoral Campaign Emotions And Voting Behaviour Among Voters In Machakos County

Abstract

Politics is mainly emotional as people tend to respond to political matters from an emotional perspective. Consequently, these reactions tend to have a major influence on peoples conduct and attitudes. Political rallies are composed of emotional appeals as aspiring leaders attempt to evoke positive or negative emotions among the people. The aim of this research was to study the affiliation between electoral campaign emotions and voting behaviour among voters in Machakos County. The study objectives were: to examine the relationship between negative electoral campaign emotions and voting behaviour among voters; to assess the relationship between positive electoral campaign emotions and voting behaviour among voters; and to find out strategies that can be put in place to minimise the impact of electoral campaign emotions on voting behaviour. This study adopted a descriptive research design. Stratified sampling was used to select a sample of 385 respondents from 4 electoral wards in Machakos County. Data was collected using a questionnaire as well as a Key Informant Interview (KII) schedule. Demographic variables of the respondents were analysed using descriptive analysis. Additionally, the researcher used regression analysis and Pearson correlation tests to check whether there is a relationship between negative and positive electoral campaign emotions and voting behaviour. The study established that there was a statistically noteworthy affiliation between positive emotions, and voting behaviour among the voters, where positive emotions were found to predict voting behaviour significantly. The study concluded that age, religion, education level, and monthly income statistically significantly affected the relationship between positive voting emotions and voting behaviour. However, gender, marital status, employment status and ethnicity did not have a significant influence. The study endorses that Strong social sensitisation should be conducted by community organisations and electoral commissions to encourage female voters and young people to take part in elections.