{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132534"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132534","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"All the president’s people? The origins of affective attachment towards political leaders","abstract":"This dissertation examines the origins and development of affective attachment to political leaders—termed Presidential Identification (Pres-ID)—by investigating how political contexts and exposure shape emotional connections between voters and political leaders. Drawing on scholarship about partisanship, social identity, and leader-follower relationships, this study proposes Pres-ID as an alternative conceptualization of partisanship in democracies where the traditional notion of affection to political parties is weak or absent. Across four empirical chapters, the study combines longitudinal surveys, experimental studies, and cross-national data to identify both contextual and micro-level mechanisms that generate Pres-ID. The five-wave repeated cross-sectional surveys in the first empirical chapter investigate campaign dynamics in Indonesia, showing that Pres-ID fluctuates throughout the electoral cycle, with a notable increase approaching election day. Panel data further indicate that accumulated exposure to political content and candidate messaging strengthens affective bonds, revealing the role of campaign communication and timing in shaping Pres-ID. The second empirical chapter also looks at Indonesia and focuses on how exposure to a ground-level instantiation of campaign strategies fosters identification. The results of a spatial analysis of a post-canvassing survey show that direct or visible canvassing efforts significantly influence affective attachment. Particularly, canvasser visit triggers Pres-ID to a greater extent than canvassing materials. Geolocational analysis indicates that proximity to campaign activity enhances the likelihood of emotional connections to a candidate. The third empirical chapter employs two survey experiments to explore how voters respond to prototypical leaders, along with their antagonistic political messaging, from candidates with either Islamist or nationalist profiles. Results show that affective attachment is most responsive to antagonistic appeals delivered by Islamist candidates, suggesting that religion-based prototypicality acts as a critical source of emotional resonance. Using cross-national analysis, the last empirical chapter demonstrates that higher levels of political competitiveness are associated with stronger levels of affective attachment to presidential candidates. This finding supports theories that heightened political rivalry intensifies emotional political identification. Taken together, these findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on political identity, partisanship, and affective polarization by showing how presidential identification emerges when strategic campaigning fuels voter exposure to political messages. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the implications of the results for theories of personalized partisanship in multi-cleavage societies. It offers directions for future research on emotional political engagement in leader-centric democracies.","abstract_html":"This dissertation examines the origins and development of affective attachment to political leaders—termed Presidential Identification (Pres-ID)—by investigating how political contexts and exposure shape emotional connections between voters and political leaders. Drawing on scholarship about partisanship, social identity, and leader-follower relationships, this study proposes Pres-ID as an alternative conceptualization of partisanship in democracies where the traditional notion of affection to political parties is weak or absent. Across four empirical chapters, the study combines longitudinal surveys, experimental studies, and cross-national data to identify both contextual and micro-level mechanisms that generate Pres-ID. The five-wave repeated cross-sectional surveys in the first empirical chapter investigate campaign dynamics in Indonesia, showing that Pres-ID fluctuates throughout the electoral cycle, with a notable increase approaching election day. Panel data further indicate that accumulated exposure to political content and candidate messaging strengthens affective bonds, revealing the role of campaign communication and timing in shaping Pres-ID. The second empirical chapter also looks at Indonesia and focuses on how exposure to a ground-level instantiation of campaign strategies fosters identification. The results of a spatial analysis of a post-canvassing survey show that direct or visible canvassing efforts significantly influence affective attachment. Particularly, canvasser visit triggers Pres-ID to a greater extent than canvassing materials. Geolocational analysis indicates that proximity to campaign activity enhances the likelihood of emotional connections to a candidate. The third empirical chapter employs two survey experiments to explore how voters respond to prototypical leaders, along with their antagonistic political messaging, from candidates with either Islamist or nationalist profiles. Results show that affective attachment is most responsive to antagonistic appeals delivered by Islamist candidates, suggesting that religion-based prototypicality acts as a critical source of emotional resonance. Using cross-national analysis, the last empirical chapter demonstrates that higher levels of political competitiveness are associated with stronger levels of affective attachment to presidential candidates. This finding supports theories that heightened political rivalry intensifies emotional political identification. Taken together, these findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on political identity, partisanship, and affective polarization by showing how presidential identification emerges when strategic campaigning fuels voter exposure to political messages. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the implications of the results for theories of personalized partisanship in multi-cleavage societies. It offers directions for future research on emotional political engagement in leader-centric democracies.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Budi, Arya"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Political Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Winters, Matthew S","Canache, Damarys J","Mondak, Jeffery J","Sin, Gisela"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["presidential identification","partisanship","affection"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Arya Budi"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132534","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Winters, Matthew S","Canache, Damarys J","Mondak, Jeffery J","Sin, Gisela"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Budi, Arya"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-11-26"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Political Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["presidential identification","partisanship","affection"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Arya Budi"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132534"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This dissertation examines the origins and development of affective attachment to political leaders—termed Presidential Identification (Pres-ID)—by investigating how political contexts and exposure shape emotional connections between voters and political leaders. Drawing on scholarship about partisanship, social identity, and leader-follower relationships, this study proposes Pres-ID as an alternative conceptualization of partisanship in democracies where the traditional notion of affection to political parties is weak or absent. Across four empirical chapters, the study combines longitudinal surveys, experimental studies, and cross-national data to identify both contextual and micro-level mechanisms that generate Pres-ID. The five-wave repeated cross-sectional surveys in the first empirical chapter investigate campaign dynamics in Indonesia, showing that Pres-ID fluctuates throughout the electoral cycle, with a notable increase approaching election day. Panel data further indicate that accumulated exposure to political content and candidate messaging strengthens affective bonds, revealing the role of campaign communication and timing in shaping Pres-ID. The second empirical chapter also looks at Indonesia and focuses on how exposure to a ground-level instantiation of campaign strategies fosters identification. The results of a spatial analysis of a post-canvassing survey show that direct or visible canvassing efforts significantly influence affective attachment. Particularly, canvasser visit triggers Pres-ID to a greater extent than canvassing materials. Geolocational analysis indicates that proximity to campaign activity enhances the likelihood of emotional connections to a candidate. The third empirical chapter employs two survey experiments to explore how voters respond to prototypical leaders, along with their antagonistic political messaging, from candidates with either Islamist or nationalist profiles. Results show that affective attachment is most responsive to antagonistic appeals delivered by Islamist candidates, suggesting that religion-based prototypicality acts as a critical source of emotional resonance. Using cross-national analysis, the last empirical chapter demonstrates that higher levels of political competitiveness are associated with stronger levels of affective attachment to presidential candidates. This finding supports theories that heightened political rivalry intensifies emotional political identification. Taken together, these findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on political identity, partisanship, and affective polarization by showing how presidential identification emerges when strategic campaigning fuels voter exposure to political messages. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the implications of the results for theories of personalized partisanship in multi-cleavage societies. It offers directions for future research on emotional political engagement in leader-centric democracies.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Arya Budi, accepted the attached license on 2025-11-25 at 18:50.","The student, Arya Budi, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-11-25 at 19:02.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-11-26 at 10:34.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22960 on 2026-02-19 at 18:25:23"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["All the president’s people? The origins of affective attachment towards political leaders"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Winters, Matthew S","Canache, Damarys J","Mondak, Jeffery J","Sin, Gisela"],"dc:creator":["Budi, Arya"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-11-26"],"dc:description":["This dissertation examines the origins and development of affective attachment to political leaders—termed Presidential Identification (Pres-ID)—by investigating how political contexts and exposure shape emotional connections between voters and political leaders. Drawing on scholarship about partisanship, social identity, and leader-follower relationships, this study proposes Pres-ID as an alternative conceptualization of partisanship in democracies where the traditional notion of affection to political parties is weak or absent. Across four empirical chapters, the study combines longitudinal surveys, experimental studies, and cross-national data to identify both contextual and micro-level mechanisms that generate Pres-ID. The five-wave repeated cross-sectional surveys in the first empirical chapter investigate campaign dynamics in Indonesia, showing that Pres-ID fluctuates throughout the electoral cycle, with a notable increase approaching election day. Panel data further indicate that accumulated exposure to political content and candidate messaging strengthens affective bonds, revealing the role of campaign communication and timing in shaping Pres-ID. The second empirical chapter also looks at Indonesia and focuses on how exposure to a ground-level instantiation of campaign strategies fosters identification. The results of a spatial analysis of a post-canvassing survey show that direct or visible canvassing efforts significantly influence affective attachment. Particularly, canvasser visit triggers Pres-ID to a greater extent than canvassing materials. Geolocational analysis indicates that proximity to campaign activity enhances the likelihood of emotional connections to a candidate. The third empirical chapter employs two survey experiments to explore how voters respond to prototypical leaders, along with their antagonistic political messaging, from candidates with either Islamist or nationalist profiles. Results show that affective attachment is most responsive to antagonistic appeals delivered by Islamist candidates, suggesting that religion-based prototypicality acts as a critical source of emotional resonance. Using cross-national analysis, the last empirical chapter demonstrates that higher levels of political competitiveness are associated with stronger levels of affective attachment to presidential candidates. This finding supports theories that heightened political rivalry intensifies emotional political identification. Taken together, these findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on political identity, partisanship, and affective polarization by showing how presidential identification emerges when strategic campaigning fuels voter exposure to political messages. The dissertation concludes by highlighting the implications of the results for theories of personalized partisanship in multi-cleavage societies. It offers directions for future research on emotional political engagement in leader-centric democracies.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Arya Budi, accepted the attached license on 2025-11-25 at 18:50.","The student, Arya Budi, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-11-25 at 19:02.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-11-26 at 10:34.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22960 on 2026-02-19 at 18:25:23"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132534"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Arya Budi"],"dc:subject":["presidential identification","partisanship","affection"],"dc:title":["All the president’s people? The origins of affective attachment towards political leaders"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Political Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z"}