International Journal of Sub-Saharan African Research (IJSSAR)

Background: Political othering is often deployed by aspiring political holders during electoral campaigns to win the heart of the electorate by employing persuasive rhetoric. Politically othering is the process of perceiving a political candidate or party that believes in a different political ideology as other. These differences in ideology are often promoted by the mass media. And once the party or candidate is othered, it is regarded as an inferior or even a threat to the state security by the ruling party.
Objective: Against this backdrop, this study was embarked upon to find out how these political rhetorics influence the electoral attitude of voters in the South-South region of Nigeria during the 2023 general election. The objective of the study was to ascertain whether the use of political othering by the political actors in the election influenced the voting pattern of the electorate or not. The study is anchored on the Yale’s persuasion theory.
Method: The study employed the descriptive survey research design to generate quantitative data used in the study. In order to ensure that the research instruments were valid, the researcher ensured that the copies of questionnaire were subjected to face validity. The results obtained were used to establish the reliability coefficient using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha method with the aid of SPSS which stood at 0.913 and this value was considered an acceptable reliability for the study.
Result: Findings show that the electorate had knowledge of political othering. It also indicated that the electorate in South-South had positive attitudes towards politics despite the political candidates’ descriptions of other candidates and political parties.
Conclusion: The study concludes that political othering does not have negative effect on the electorate as they still vote for their choice candidate/political irrespective of the political party/candidate description of one another. Contribution: Electorate exposure to political othering determines the electoral behaviour of the voters. Recommendation: On the basis of the findings of the study, it was recommended that Political parties and candidates should intensify the tempo of advertisements of their programmes and strategies. This would create more awareness about the policies, programmes, philosophy and other activities of the party and its political candidates. Political parties and candidates should engage more in the sensitisation of their programmes and policies through the various media of mass communication. Electorate should be made to properly identify with the parties and the candidates in order to be more conversant with the policies and programmes of the political parties.