November 23, 2025 - As Taylor gained more recognition and his campaign became more successful, people began saying that Taylor's political opponents ought to "jump on the bandwagon" themselves if they wanted to be associated with such success. Later, during the time of William Jennings Bryan's 1900 presidential campaign, bandwagons had become standard in campaigns, and the phrase "jump on the bandwagon" was used as a derogatory term, implying that people were associating themselves with success without considering that with which they associated themselves.

The next day, John cheers on the Fighters at his local bar—indistinguishable from the mass of other fans that form Fighter mania. The snowballing popularity of the Fighters, and John’s subsequent decision to support them, is an example of the bandwagon effect.

August 17, 2021 - Examples of such organizations are those which support single parents or veterans. The lack of realism in experiments on political voting is often criticized (Morton & Williams, 2011), and may explain the varying success in reproducing real-world phenomena such as the bandwagon effect.

September 15, 2015 - And once inside they shouted. Sometimes they booed and jeered - mention Jeb and they booed; mention Hillary and they booed even louder. And when Trump mentioned Trump - which he did quite a lot (if anyone did a word cloud I'm sure that Trump was the word he used most) they cheered. There were other bogeymen too - China, Japan and Mexico also brought howls of derision. Mention of illegal immigrants brought howls of rage. This was politics as pantomime.

The surges in support in the final weeks of the 2020 elections in Slovakia for Igor Matovič’s Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (Obyčajní ľudia a nezávislé osobnosti), Change Continues (Prodŭlzhavame promyanata) in the October 2022 Bulgarian elections, and for Petr Pavel in the 2023 presidential elections in the Czech Republic, are all examples of voters rallying behind the party or candidate seen as mostly likely to defeat the dominant figure of politics; namely Robert Fico (Slovakia), Boyko Borissov (Bulgaria) and Andrej Babiš (Czech Republic). The two most recent elections in Slovakia illustrate both the power of the bandwagon effect and its limitations.

Anyone who followed the 2008 presidential campaign knows which candidate was considered “hard to like,” which was likely to bring change, and which one was a straight talker. The metanarratives that journalists apply to candidates become ubiquitous in news coverage and are hard to shake ...

2 weeks ago - The study notes how Sri Lanka, during various periods of internal conflict and international pressure, constantly had to navigate between two great powers, each trying to create a narrative that ‘joins us because all that is rational is here.’ ...

July 21, 2025 - Kennedy, for example, stated that "if the United States were to falter, the whole world... would inevitably begin to move toward the Communist bloc". Henry Kissinger suggested that states tend to bandwagon "if leaders around the world... assume that the U.S. lacked either the forces or the will...

February 3, 2025 - For example, if everyone you know is saving for retirement and discusses it frequently, you may be more likely to save for retirement because you are copying the behavior of those around you.

September 21, 2023 - Kiss Á, Simonovits G. Identifying the bandwagon effect in two-round elections. Public Choice. 2013;160(3-4):327-344. doi:10.1007/s11127-013-0146-y · Vicki G. Morwitz VG, Carol Pluzinski C. Do polls reflect opinions or do opinions reflect polls? The impact of political polling on voters' expectations, preferences, and behavior.

September 5, 2023 - John is committing the bandwagon fallacy by letting the fact that all his neighbors were voting a certain way convince him to do the same. His reason was thus based on popular opinion and not on any evidence that the political party he voted ...

November 5, 2020 - This can include trying new restaurants, taking exotic vacations, or attending parties. Thousands of books are published every year. So why do only a few books become bestsellers?

This is a prerequisite for adequate ... assumed boundary condition. For example, in August 2021 the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in poll results for the first time in almost 15 years (Grahn and Süßmann 2021)....

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January 25, 2026 - As campaigns became more successful, more politicians strove for a seat on the bandwagon, hoping to be associated with the success. The term itself is derived from the era of P.T. Barnum, when it referred to a literal wagon that carried a marching band on it, as part of a larger circus show. Its first use in a political sense was in 1848 when Dan Rice, described here as “The Clown Who Ran For President,” “invited future-president Zachary Taylor to campaign on his circus wagon, using its music to attract attention for the candidate.

July 16, 2015 - Abstract The term “bandwagon effect” denotes a phenomenon of public opinion impinging upon itself: In their political preferences and positions people tend to join what they perceive to be existing...

September 7, 2022 - The bandwagon fallacy gets its name from the nineteenth-century practice of political supporters jumping onto their parties’ bandwagons—literal wagons used to transport musical bands at rallies and parades.

May 4, 2015 - Finally, after he had won the confidence of the locals in the country store, he would go into politics. These folks would ask their well-traveled friend how did the governor's race look throughout the state. He would look them in the eye and say, “It ain't no race, George Wallace is going to clean up. He's going to get all the votes in South Alabama.” The North Alabamians would want to get on the bandwagon.

For example, voters sometimes provide increased support for a certain political party, simply because that party is doing well in recent polls (a behavior sometimes referred to as bandwagon voting, or the rally-around-the-winner effect or follow-the-winner effect).

May 24, 2025 - Emotional appeals play a significant role in bandwagoning. Politicians often use emotional narratives to create a sense of urgency or shared identity, influencing individuals to support their cause without thorough deliberation.