Disgust Sensitivity and Public Demand for Protection

We contribute to the growing literature on emotions and politics by focusing on the political relevance of disgust, a basic emotion characterized by visceral aversion to a potentially offensive stimulus. We offer a conceptual clarification of disgust’s potential connection to politics, arguing that individual differences in sensitivity to feeling disgusted inform public demand for policies designed to protect citizens from physical, moral, or imaginary contamination. We show that disgust sensitivity operates independently of political ideology and informs a wide array of protectionist policy preferences across the ideological spectrum, even controlling for other relevant predispositions. Our analyses suggest that disgust sensitivity is distinct from simple out-group hostility, and the relationship between disgust sensitivity and opinion on policies regarding out-groups depends on the content of those policies. Finally, survey experimental results suggest that political communication can activate disgust sensitivity in public opinion.