Politicization During the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections: Bridging the Personal and the Political Through an Identity Content Approach

We investigated u.s. citizens’ politicization (i.e.,switching from not self-defining to self-defining as an active political party supporter) during the 2012 u.s. presidential elections. we used a novel identity content approach to explore qualitative changes in overlap between personal and politicized identity traits. we collected longitudinal data from a community sample of u.s. citizens (n = 760),tracking whether and how personal and politicized identity content developed: two months before (t1),immediately before (t2),and 2 months after (t3) the election. we explored a subsample of participants who met inclusion criteria (n = 115),comparing 87 participants who did not politicize with 28 participants who self-labeled as unpoliticized at t1,but politicized at t2/t3. results confirmed hypotheses: only politicizers showed greater integration between their personal and politicized identity content over time; moreover,identity content was a significant positive predictor of politicization and action engagement. we discuss the value of identity content for politicization research. © 2015 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.