Nostalgia in Politics.

This article examines the role of nostalgia in American political behavior, particularly its influence on voting patterns in the 2022 midterm elections. Using data from the 2022 Cooperative Election Study, the authors develop a measure of nostalgia—defined as a collective, restorative longing for a perceived better past—and find that nostalgia is more prevalent among Republicans, religious individuals, and consumers of conservative media such as Fox News. Nostalgia is linked to support for Republican candidates beyond partisan identification, with voters expressing nostalgic attitudes significantly more likely to vote Republican and less likely to vote Democratic. The study highlights that nostalgia's political effects depend on which aspects of the past are recalled and suggests that while nostalgia has been prominently used by Republican elites, it is not inherently partisan and could be mobilized by Democrats as well.