Influence of Religious and Ethnic Affiliations on Election Anxiety amongst Electorates in Nigeria
Keywords:
voters, anxiety, election, conflict, ethnicity, ReligionAbstract
This study examines the influence of religious and ethnic affiliations on election anxiety amongst electorates in Nigeria. The study adopts the survey research design. The population comprises the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. A sample of 200 participants were involved in the study. The purposive sampling method is adopted to select the participants from the three major ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. The participants, incidentally drawn from the population to take part in the study are both males and females; Hausas, Igbos and Yorubas, as well as Christians and Muslims. The model is a 3 ethnic conditions (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) x 2 religious affiliation conditions (Christianity and Islam) factorial design. The State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) degigned by Speilberger in 1989 is the instrument used to obtain data for the study. It is hypothesized that religious and ethnic affiliations have main and interaction effects on anxiety. Findings reveal that there is no significant main effect between religious affiliation and election anxiety. Also, there was no significant main effect of ethnic affiliation on election anxiety. Additionally, results reveal that there was no significant interaction effect of religious affiliation and ethnic affiliation on election anxiety. Hence, it is recommended that further research should be carried out before any general election or when elective offices are being sought and candidates are campaigning for election to be able to test the election anxiety at its more severe state.
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