The bandwagon effect is a very real psychological phenomenon when it comes to voting in elections. People, especially in this day and age, are social creatures. With the advent of social media, voters post who they will, or who they have voted for. Those on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc will determine to vote for whoever their friends, or those who they’re following “tell them to.” They take cues from those they want to associate with or be like. People will either consciously or subconsciously, mark their ballot for a particular candidate based upon what others are doing.
The popularity of this phrase is not a new discovery. Using the term “bandwagon” to denote the effect began way back in 1848. During Zachary Taylor’s successful presidential campaign, a performance clown who was popular at the time, invited Taylor to join his circus bandwagon. Taylor received a significant amount of attention and recognition, and people started claiming that his political opponents might also want to “jump on the bandwagon.”
In the more recent past, the bandwagon effect often started with public polling. With polls often coming out multiple times a day as an election neared, results were often water-cooler topics that bent opinion and amplified the bandwagon effect.
Low Information Voters
People assume that others have done more studying, are more informed and have chosen a candidate due to more research, than they have. Those facets in the electoral process will trigger low information voters, who will go to the polls and punch the ticket of the candidate they now believe will win the election. There is an innate desire in us to win. Who wants to be branded a loser? By voting for who they think will take office, pride instinctively grabs hold of people who felt like they were on the winning team. You can see the ripple effect of a sign in a lawn and how it correlates to the bandwagon effect.
A highly-utilized human-centered advertising technique is known as “bandwagon pressuring.” And, in reality, candidates are actually advertising themselves. With persuasive messaging, a brand will try to convince the consumer that everyone else already has the product and that they are missing out if they don’t make a purchase. This technique relies heavily on a psychological tactic called “FOMO,” or fear of missing out. The art of persuasion is a common creative approach for bandwagon pressuring. Political yard signs can be very successful tools in the utilization of said art of persuasion.
Part of the reason people conform is that they look to other people in their social circle for information about what is right or acceptable. If it appears that everyone else is doing something, then people are left with the impression that it is the thing they should be doing as well. Fear of exclusion also plays a role in the bandwagon effect. More often than not, people generally don’t want to be on the outside looking in, the odd one out. So, going along with what the rest of the group is doing helps low information voters feel they’ve ensured themselves inclusion and social belonging. The need to belong sways people to adopt the norms and attitudes of the majority to gain acceptance and approval. In essence, this is a soft, passive-aggressive form of peer pressure. If drivers see plenty of your campaign yard signs around town, it sends a signal to them that you are popular, and thus, voting for you is what they’ll do.
Cognitive Shortcuts & Heuristics
Many people out there use cognitive shortcuts when making decisions. Attention spans are short. People don’t want to go through the process of gathering information. These shortcuts are called “heuristics.” The bandwagon effect serves as a heuristic by allowing us to make a decision quickly. Thinking through a behavior or idea and deciding whether it’s worth supporting or not takes time. It’s not uncommon for “followers” in life to see popular behaviors as a cue that they should adopt a similar stance. This is to say, they skip the long process of individual evaluation and rely on other people, measured by widespread popularity.
Research & the Bandwagon Effect
Researchers have found that when people learn a particular candidate is leading in the polls, they are more likely to change their vote to conform to the winning side. In a study done during the 1992 U.S. presidential election, test students learned that Bill Clinton was leading the race in some polls. The bandwagon psyche had them switch what was going to be a vote for Bush into a vote for Clinton.
Another such study was done in Germany in 2017. A team of researchers led by noted doctor Magdalena Obermaier, conducted an experiment with 765 participants to look into the bandwagon effect. Participants were told that they were joining a study regarding the news coverage leading up to a local election. They were given news articles about a fictitious mayoral race in a German town, followed by information about the candidates’ history. Next, participants were divided into groups that were given different polls. One showed a candidate losing by a wide margin, another poll showed a candidate winning by a large margin, and the last group was not shown any polls. The results supported the influence of the bandwagon effect. Polling information and perceived popularity had a strong influence on whether or not participants expected a candidate to win.
The bandwagon effect is very real and very powerful. Not Oz powerful, but powerful nonetheless. It’s not a hypothesis or a theory. It does happen. It happens with fashion, music, and most definitely in politics. Those corrugated plastic yard signs are an extremely effective way of earning some name recognition as a candidate for voters to see. Then, they do some research about your platform. After that, they’re talking about you at work. And their co-workers will jump on the bandwagon. And you’ll earn more votes. It’s as simple as that.