Inoculation Theory and Politics

Extant research has shown that inoculation messages can blunt the impact of political attacks on voter intentions. In addition, the inoculation strategy has demonstrated efficacy in protecting political issues, candidates' images, and issue positions. As such, this chapter focuses on the application of inoculation in the context of politics. More specifically, it reviews extant findings (e.g., voter characteristics), provides suggestions for future political inoculation exploration (e.g., political humor), and offers additional ideas for theoretical testing and practical application (e.g., misinformation).