Partisans’ Noncomplex Impressions of a Candidate Who Wore a Racially Insensitive Costume

Scandals such as racially insensitive costuming do not always ruin political ambitions. Instead, partisan supporters’ voting intentions can remain strong when they rely upon simplistic impressions. In this experiment, U.S. adults presented with a (fictitious) political candidate with similar (or different) sociopolitical positions were confronted with a news story about the candidate's racially insensitive Halloween costume during his college years. Participants wrote their impressions of the candidate with similar sociopolitical positions in a positive tone and with lower integrative complexity (as indexed by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count; LIWC). The effect of candidate's similar sociopolitical position on voting intentions was partially mediated by less integratively complex impressions. Thus, a noncomplex positive impression helped partisans retain their supportive intentions. Findings are considered in light of contemporary transmission of political news and opinions through social media.