Talk Local to Me: Assessing the Heterogenous Effects of Localistic Appeals

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X231173402
• Author: B. Kal Munis,Richard Burke
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

American Politics Research

2023, Vol. 51(5) 655–669

© The Author(s) 2023

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/1532673X231173402

journals.sagepub.com/home/apr

Talk Local to Me: Assessing the Heterogenous

Effects of Localistic Appeals

B. Kal Munis

1

and Richard Burke

2



Abstract

Contemporary public opinion in the United States has been characterized by affective polarization and the nationalization of

political behavior. In this paper, we examine whether local framing can decrease voters’reliance on national partisan identities

when evaluating their representatives in the United States Congress. Relying on both an experimental study and observational

data from senators’Facebook posts, we f‌ind evidence that “talking local”is an effective means for representatives to bypas s the

“perceptual screen”of partisanship . Candidates who “go local”in their communication style are able to expand their elect oral

coalition by appealing to independents and outpartisans alike. Observational f‌indings suggest that many politicians, especially

those representing competitive districts, are aware of this and “go local”strategically.

Keywords

localism, nationalization, place, political communication, representation, social media

Political institutions in the United States are overwhelmingly

geographic in nature. From federalism to single-member

districts and the electoral college, American political insti-

tutional design assumes that preferences, wants, and needs

vary across geographies and that these realities ought to be

ref‌lected in the structures and operations of government (e.g.,

see the Federalist and Anti-federalist papers). Geographically

apportioned single-member districts, one of America’s more

unique electoral institutions, privileges the particularities of

geographic constituency to a signif‌icant extent, especially

when compared to alternative systems (Cain et al., 1987;

Hopkins, 2017). Recent trends in American politics, how-

ever, namely partisan polarization (e.g., Levendusky, 2009;

Mason, 2018) and nationalization (e.g., Hopkins, 2018),

suggest that there may no longer be much room for “local,”

particularistic considerations to sway public opinion. “Going

local,”in other words, may be fruitless if voters from Or-

lando, FL to Ovando, MT overwhelmingly crave homoge-

nized national partisan rhetoric. Moreover, if this is the case,

one of the core justif‌ications (e.g., geocentrism of the

American political heart and mind) articulated by the

American founders for much of American institutional

design—particularly regarding our electoral and represen-

tational institutions –would no longer be applicable.

In this paper, we consider the effectiveness of “local”(i.e.,

non-national/subnational) appeals during a time where the

American electorate has been characterized by social sorting

(Mason, 2018) and affective polarization (Iyengar &

Westwood, 2015). We argue that local appeals can be

effective, specif‌ically among voters who do not share the

party of their U.S. Senator. We f‌irst establish this causal

relationship using a survey experiment that relies on ma-

nipulated Facebook posts. Next, we turn to data on Senators’

Facebook posts and f‌ind that Senators in competitive states

are more likely to post about local topics and that local posts

are associated with heightened approval among out-partisans

and independents.

Why Local Sells: The Power of Place and

Representational Folk Wisdom

In October of 2020, as political polarization approached its

asymptote, the Facebook posts of one Maine Senator re-

f‌lected a more genteel era of American politics. Rather than

tether her candidacy to the highly contentious presidential

election or to the similarly divisive Supreme Court conf‌ir-

mation battle, Susan Collins (R-ME) posted about her work to

strengthen Maine’sf‌ishing industry, renovate the Eastport

1

Department of History & Political Science, Utah Valley University, Orem,

UT, USA

2

Department of Government & Foreign Affairs, Hampden-Sydney College,

Hampden-Sydney, VA, USA

Corresponding Author:

B. Kal Munis, Department of History & Political Science, Utah Valley

University, Clarke Building, Orem, UT 84058, USA.

Email: kalmunis@live.com