Partisan identity, ideological orientations, and the differential criticisms of ingroup and outgroup leadership: An examination of the 2024 U.S. election

Abstract Do partisans ever oppose their candidates during U.S. presidential elections? We explored this question across two studies ( N = 1106) using U.S. Republicans and Democrats in the context of the 2024 Presidential Election. We propose that partisan identity and ideological orientations related to different criticisms of in‐group and out‐group leaders, which differently relates to level of candidate support. For Democrats, we focused on the ideological orientation of left‐wing authoritarianism (LWA). For Republicans, we focused on the ideological belief in democracy. Study 1 measured participants criticisms of in‐group and out‐group candidates, while Study 2 manipulated the salience of in‐group (or out‐group) leadership support. Across both studies, stronger partisan identity related to lower levels of in‐group criticism, higher levels of out‐group criticism, and more leadership support. Importantly, the examined ideological orientation lead Democrats (but not Republicans) to oppose their in‐group leader. Manipulating the salience of leadership support did not impact these relationships.