Emotional influence on campaign involvement emerges only late in the cycle

Evidence

During the spring primaries (January- June), the emotions are minimally—statistically insignificantly—associated with change in campaign involvement. If anything, partisanship is dominant. It is only during the fall campaign that candidate-induced emotional response spurs involvement. Crucially, the dominant factor becomes enthusiasm, not anxiety. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1736

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why do spring-primary emotions have no effect on involvement? Possibly voters aren’t paying attention or candidates aren’t yet differentiated emotionally — worth investigating the mechanism.