Expressive Partisanship: Party Affiliation or Candidate Loyalty?

Currently, the United States is within the midst of a Presidential election and the Democratic Primary is in a shootout between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Joe Biden is a registered Democrat and was the Vice President of the United States from 2008 to 2016. However, Bernie Sanders is a self-described independent but is using the Democratic Party as the primary vehicle to be elected. Both candidates have garnered significant campaigning efforts over the recent months within this election year, yet Huddy et. Al’s concept of Expressive Partisanship would suggest that partisan identification is the most significant feature of partisanship within American Politics. Nonetheless, the significant support for Bernie Sanders who has clearly stated that he is not a Democrat and has positioned himself to “fight” the Democratic Establishment serves as a case example of candidate loyalty which discredits the idea that Expressive Partisanship depends significantly depends on partisan loyalty. 


As of March 7th, Bernie Sanders held 551 delegates and was close behind Joe Biden who has 627 delegates. Each candidate needs to reach a total of 1991 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Bernie Sanders as in a close position with Joe Biden, and if we are familiar with social media platforms, its likely that we have experienced the ‘Bernie Bro’ fandom at some point either in our Twitter mentions or on our timelines. Bernie had secured the California, Colorado, Utah and Vermont primaries of the Democratic primary. While Joe Biden is the frontrunner the Presidential nominee, Bernie’s support through campaigning is noteworthy within the discussion of Huddy et. Al’s concept of Expressive Partisanship. Candidate loyalty within the Democratic Presidential Primary is evidenced further by an Emerson poll which found that only 53% of Bernie supporters early in February would support the eventual Democratic nominee, even if it is not Bernie Sanders. Compared to this statistic, at least 85% of Biden, Warren and Buttigieg supporters would support the eventual Democratic nominee even if its not their candidate of choice. This poll speaks to the point that candidate loyalty appears to be a major feature of expressive partisanship which Huddy and her coauthors seem to overlook in their research study.

Another case study which demonstrates the significance of candidate loyalty is the election of Donald Trump. Donald Trump was most known for his media personality on the Apprentice, and apart from his critical tweets of former president Barrack Obama, he had little to no experience in politics compared to the GOP candidates he ran against for the Republican Presidential primary in 2016. Given the political experience and tenure of Republican figures such as Senator Ted Cruz and Lyndsey Graham, Huddy et. Al’s concept of expressive partisanship would have been illustrated by either of their nominations for President in 2016 due to their strong affiliation with the Republican party. Another example of the extreme candidate loyalty was identified within the Republican House and Senate where members of congressed refused to vote “yes” on either articles of impeachment except from the one Republican Senator Mitt Romney who voted “yes” on the first article of impeachment “Abuses of power” and “no” on the second article of impeachment “obstruction of congress”. While acknowledging that Senator Romney is the only individual within history who voted to impeach the president of his own party, the American public were able to witness the type of criticism a member of public will face when they are not completely devoted to President Trump and his position in office. It is also fair to credit Donald Trump’s success to his passionate campaign talking heads such as Tomi Lahren, Milo Yiannopoulus, and others who may not have been as passionate about campaigning for Donald Trump with their platforms had he not advertised himself as an anti-establishment politically incorrect individual who would “drain the swamp”. There was no other presidential candidate for the Republican party who advertised themselves in the way that Trump did, which is likely the reason why he was more successful in encouraging activity for his Presidential campaign from a large population of the United States voting public.  

In the most recent weeks, United States politics has clearly become more polarized, and with the increased polarized climate, voters appear to have become more open to supporting candidates who do not fit the establishment status of either political party, which appears indicative that candidate loyalty has become the most significant feature of expressive partisanship.

Works Cited

Huddy, Leonie, Mason, and Aaroe. 2015. “Expressive Partisanship: Campaign Involvement, Political Emotion, and Partisan Identity.” American Political Science Review 109 (1). Cambridge University Press: 1–17. doi:10.1017/S0003055414000604.

Graham, Ruth. “Will Bernie Fans Only Vote for Bernie?” Slate Magazine, Slate, 5 Feb. 2020, slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/will-bernie-sanders-fans-only-vote-for-bernie.html.