Feeling Thermometer Analysis
The feeling thermometer is a survey instrument that asks respondents to rate their warmth or favorability toward a person, group, or institution on a 0-to-100 scale, where 0 is very cold/unfavorable, 100 is very warm/favorable, and 50 is neutral. Introduced in the American National Election Studies in the 1960s, it is the standard measure of political affect, and its analysis underpins candidate evaluation, group affect, and affective-polarization research.
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Sources
- Wilcox, C., Sigelman, L., & Cook, E. (1989). Some like it hot: Individual differences in responses to group feeling thermometers. Public Opinion Quarterly, 53(2), 246-257. DOI: 10.1086/269505 ↗
- Weisberg, H. F., & Miller, A. H. (1980). Evaluation of the feeling thermometer: A report to the National Election Study Board. NES Technical Report. American National Election Studies. link ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Feeling Thermometer Analysis. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/political-psychology/feeling-thermometer-analysis
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