Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, fear has played a crucial role in US politics. During the last presidential campaign, for example, the Republican team ran a television ad featuring menacing wolves roaming a dark forest. Simultaneously, a woman announcer warned voters that “weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.” (Associated Press, 2004) In the context of a campaign centered on terrorism and national security, no one could miss the Republican message: only George W. Bush can adequately protect the United States against the terrorizing army of terrorist wolves. Only a few weeks before the ad appeared on television, Robb Willer, a young sociologist from Cornell University, published an online paper demonstrating that fear toward terrorism clearly advantaged the Republican President. Using time-series analyses, Willer showed that the Post-September 11 terror warnings have consistently increased popular support for the Republican President (Willer, 2004).
