Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

The author begins this study with an inquiry into what she terms the “Great Paradox”—a tendency amongst right-wing voters (especially those who espouse Tea Party beliefs) in under-resourced states to vote against their own social and economic interests. She is particularly interested in environmental pollution and environmental regulations, and she asks herself: “How can such a polluted state take such a dim view of government regulation of polluters” (55)? Among other similar studies, she notices a tendency to examine only the social and economic factors that impact political belief formation and voting patterns, and she wonders what role emotions play in these processes. As a result of years of interviews with subjects in and around Lake Charles, Louisiana, all of whom self-identify as Tea Party Republicans, she articulates what she calls the “deep story.” Deep stories are narratives of self, society, and nation that feel true to an individual or a group. At the end of her study, she concludes that the deep stories of Tea Party voters do more to shape their political identities than facts and figures and even lived experience: Affect is more important to most voters than fact.

Initially, the author finds three key factors that impact political identity that are profoundly impacted by emotion: After conducting a series of interviews with multiple subjects, commonalities begin to emerge.