Investigating the Nature of Cross-Cutting Cleavage Issues
Open Access DepositedA Topic Analysis of Far-Right Political Podcasts
This paper draws on Daniel Ziblatt’s (2017) conservative dilemma model, which proposes that amidst expanding suffrage and growing economic inequality, conservative parties have remained competitive in elections by partnering with civil society organizations, also known as surrogate organizations, and championing cross-cutting cleavage issues, or cultural rather than economic issues that mobilize a cross-class coalition of voters. I investigate what it is about the nature of cross-cutting cleavage issues that makes them so emotionally resonate and lead people to vote against their economic self-interest in favor of cultural issues. To do this, I employ James Carey’s (1988) ritual view of communication, or the idea that communication is extended to affirm one’s beliefs and worldviews. With this, I apply Bennett & Livingston’s (2025a
2025b) application of connective action to Ziblatt’s conservative dilemma model to argue that with digital surrogate organizations, the cross-cutting cleavage issues become the organization. To explore these theories, I study far-right political podcasts, specifically a subset of podcasts hosted by known apostles and prophets from a loose network coalition of nondenominational churches and ministries often referred to as the New Apostolic Reformation. I present a topic modeling analysis and a textual analysis of the podcast episodes to identify the most prominent issues discussed on the podcasts during the 2024 election season. In addition, I employ an interpretive, or hermeneutical analysis of the issues, arguing that there is something about the nature of 21st-century American culture that causes these issues to resonate so strongly with voters.
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Banholzer_gwu_0075M_17903.pdf | 2026-06-24 | Open Access |
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