One cure for sour feelings about politics: getting people to love their hometowns

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Key takeaways

  • Local patriotism strongly predicts civic participation. People who love their town are more likely to attend council meetings, volunteer, and engage in local issues.
  • Emotional prompts can change behavior. Two experiments showed that asking people to reflect on their feelings toward their town increased donations to solve local problems, compared with no prompt.
  • Fostering local attachment is a practical democracy tool. Building pride of place can boost turnout and engagement without inflaming division.

Table of contents

Local patriotism: the power behind civic life

My nationally representative survey of 500 Americans found that about half said they liked their town, 20% loved it, and a full quarter had no positive feeling at all; 3% outright hated where they lived. After controlling for age, education, income, and general political interest, loving one’s town strongly predicted local political participation—attending meetings, contacting officials, volunteering, and discussing local issues with friends. Trust in local government followed a similar pattern.

These findings align with concerns about turnout in cities like Miami, where Eileen Higgins won the mayoralty in a runoff with relatively low participation. The broader lesson: care about where you live can translate into tangible civic action.

Source: The Conversation, DOI: https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.ka65yx9as.

The experiments: what changed behavior

Two experiments tested whether prompting people to think about their feelings toward their town could spur action. In the first, participants were asked to donate the $1 they earned from the survey to help the town solve a problem if they were thinking about love or hate toward their town. The control group received no emotional prompt. Results: 18% of the prompt group donated versus 3% in the control—a sixfold increase.

In the second experiment, 8% donated when prompted to think about loving their town, and 5% donated when prompted to consider hate. In the control group with no prompt, no one donated. In short, triggering local-affect nudges civic generosity and participation across contexts.

Why this matters for democracy

Local patriotism helps resolve a central question in political science: why participate in local politics at all. Where tangible benefits are uncertain, the emotional reward of supporting a beloved place makes the sacrifice feel worthwhile. This approach offers a path to increase turnout and engagement without widening partisan divides.

For leaders grappling with apathy, the takeaway is clear: cultivate pride of place first, then invite participation. The research indicates that emotion can be a productive, inclusive driver of democratic action.

A few ways to foster local patriotism

  • Create civic rituals. Regular community events—from farmers markets to fireworks—build emotional ties to place.
  • Celebrate iconic places. Promote landmarks that symbolize the town and offer a shared visual shorthand for identity.
  • Engage families. Bring children to town events and programs to instantiate long-term civic habits and place attachment.

Conclusion

Emotional connection to a community is a powerful, largely untapped resource for strengthening democracy at the local level. By prompting residents to reflect on what they love about their town—and by providing rituals, symbols, and inclusive youth engagement—we can raise meaningful participation without stoking division.

Source: https://theconversation.com/one-cure-for-sour-feelings-about-politics-getting-people-to-love-their-hometowns-272876