Emotional Reactions to Protective Policies on the Political Spectrum

Abstract The need for safety is one of the basic human needs. States implement different protective policies to fulfil the task of granting safety to their citizens. Aim of the present study conducted online on a representative sample of Polish citizens ( N = 1,124), was to explore emotions potentially evoked by seven protective policies in the areas of: the economy, social welfare, health, personal security from crime and terrorism, one’s own way of life, tradition and culture of the country, as well as climate and environment. It also examined the relationship between emotional responses to protective policies across these different policy areas and the political orientation of participants, together with their socio-demographic characteristics. The results showed that emotions evoked by protective policies vary across areas of protection. Only four emotions (discouragement, anxiety, disappointment, and dissatisfaction) were indicated by more than 10 % of adult Poles in all areas of protection. Age of respondents was the most systematic predictor for all policies. Although there were general trends in emotional reactions to all policies, there were also area-specific emotions and their predictors. These include policy-specific emotions such as grief in the area of economy, despair in the area of healthcare (with gender and political orientation as predictors), and pride in the area of protecting traditions and culture in Poland (with political orientation as a predictor). Protective policy regarding climate was the only one that evoked only negative emotions. The area of economy was the one with the largest number of different emotions indicated.