How To Get Someone To Vote For A Fascist-- Wave A Flag In His Face

Yesterday a friend sent me an interesting study by 3 professors from the University of Chicago, Cornell and Hebrew University, respectively Travis Carter, Melissa Ferguson and Ran Hassin. The title says it all: "A Single Exposure to the American Flag Shifts Support Toward Republicanism up to 8 Months Later."

There is scant evidence that incidental cues in the environment significantly alter people’s political judgments and behavior in a durable way. We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.

Oddly, an experiment in Israel actually turned Israeli voters away from their extreme right, fascist-oriented parties and in a more moderate direction! What is it about America? And should Obama ditch his America flag lapel pin? And, more important, did Alan Grayson's ties lead to his defeat by proto-fascist lunatic Daniel Webster last year?