How does political action change our self-image? This question is addressed in the paper “I voted therefore I am (not) – Political self-effects in the context of the U.S. and German Federal Elections” by Jana Dreston (University of Duisburg-Essen), Dr. Josephine B. Schmitt, scientific coordinator at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), and Jun. Prof. Dr. German Neubaum (University of Duisburg-Essen), which was accepted for the 76th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. The conference will take place from June 4 to 8, 2026, in Cape Town, South Africa. Under the title “I voted therefore I am (not) – Political self-effects in the context of the U.S. and German Federal Elections,” the authors present the results of a two-wave study on the US election in November 2024 (N = 1,148) and the German federal election in March 2025 (N = 658).
In their study, the researchers examined voters in these very different electoral systems to determine whether and how voting – especially in connection with political communication on social media – affects voters’ self-perception. Contrary to their hypotheses, the authors found no evidence that the act of voting strengthens political self-concepts. Instead, most political self-images tend to weaken after voting; only affective polarization remains unchanged. Various forms of online communication about politics (e.g., political discussions on social media) do not reinforce these effects either. In the US, however, sharing one’s own voting decision on social media leads to increased perceived polarization. Exploratory analyses also show that the effect of voting varies depending on the election decision: voters for the defeated candidate Kamala Harris report declining political self-concepts, while the opposite pattern is seen among Trump voters. A similar difference between voters for a winning versus losing party could not be replicated in Germany.
The annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) is one of the world’s largest academic gatherings in the field of communication and media studies. Each year, around 3,000 researchers from numerous countries participate and present current research findings and theoretical developments in communication studies across several hundred panels, presentations, and poster sessions. This year’s conference theme is “Communication and Inequalities in Context.”
Further information on the International Communication Association (ICA) Conference can be found on the website:
https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA26