IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2601.21534.html

Electoral Polls and Economic Uncertainty: an Analysis of the Last Two U.S. Presidential Elections

Author

Listed:
  • Giampiero M. Gallo
  • Demetrio Lacava
  • Edoardo Otranto

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between electoral polls and indicators of economic and financial uncertainty during the last two U.S. presidential elections (2020 and 2024). Using daily polling data on Donald Trump and measures such as the Aruoba-Diebold-Scotti Business Conditions Index, the 5-year Breakeven Inflation Rate, the Trade Policy Uncertainty index, and the VIX, we estimate conditional correlation models to capture time-varying interactions. The analysis reveals that in 2020, correlations between polls and uncertainty measures were highly dynamic and event-driven, reflecting the influence of exogenous shocks (COVID-19, oil price collapse) and political milestones (primaries, debates). In contrast, during the 2024 campaign, correlations remained close to zero, stable, and largely unresponsive to shocks, suggesting that entrenched polarization and non-economic events (e.g., assassination attempt, candidate changes) muted the economic channel. The study highlights how the interplay between voter sentiment, financial markets, and uncertainty varies across electoral contexts, offering a methodological contribution through the application of Dynamic Conditional Correlation models to political data and policy-relevant insights on the conditions under which economic fundamentals influence electoral dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Giampiero M. Gallo & Demetrio Lacava & Edoardo Otranto, 2026. "Electoral Polls and Economic Uncertainty: an Analysis of the Last Two U.S. Presidential Elections," Papers 2601.21534, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2601.21534
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.21534
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gallo, Giampiero M. & Otranto, Edoardo, 2015. "Forecasting realized volatility with changing average levels," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 620-634.
    2. Bauwens, Luc & Otranto, Edoardo, 2020. "Nonlinearities and regimes in conditional correlations with different dynamics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 496-522.
    3. Sébastien Laurent & Luc Bauwens & Jeroen V. K. Rombouts, 2006. "Multivariate GARCH models: a survey," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 79-109.
    4. Caldara, Dario & Iacoviello, Matteo & Molligo, Patrick & Prestipino, Andrea & Raffo, Andrea, 2020. "The economic effects of trade policy uncertainty," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 38-59.
    5. Aruoba, S. BoraÄŸan & Diebold, Francis X. & Scotti, Chiara, 2009. "Real-Time Measurement of Business Conditions," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 27(4), pages 417-427.
    6. Engle, Robert F. & Kroner, Kenneth F., 1995. "Multivariate Simultaneous Generalized ARCH," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 122-150, February.
    7. Carola Conces Binder & Rupal Kamdar & Jane M. Ryngaert, 2024. "Partisan Expectations and COVID-Era Inflation," NBER Chapters, in: Inflation in the COVID Era and Beyond, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Luc Bauwens & Edoardo Otranto, 2016. "Modeling the Dependence of Conditional Correlations on Market Volatility," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 254-268, April.
    9. Bollerslev, Tim, 1990. "Modelling the Coherence in Short-run Nominal Exchange Rates: A Multivariate Generalized ARCH Model," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(3), pages 498-505, August.
    10. Hartwell, Christopher A. & Hubschmid-Vierheilig, Elena, 2024. "Do markets pay attention to political disinformation?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    11. Palmer, Harvey D. & Whitten, Guy D., 1999. "The Electoral Impact of Unexpected Inflation and Economic Growth," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 623-639, September.
    12. Gian Piero Aielli, 2013. "Dynamic Conditional Correlation: On Properties and Estimation," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 282-299, July.
    13. Kyle Handley & Nuno Limão, 2022. "Trade Policy Uncertainty," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 363-395, August.
    14. Bollerslev, Tim, 1986. "Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 307-327, April.
    15. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    16. Engle, Robert, 2002. "Dynamic Conditional Correlation: A Simple Class of Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(3), pages 339-350, July.
    17. Giampiero M. Gallo & Edoardo Otranto, 2018. "Combining sharp and smooth transitions in volatility dynamics: a fuzzy regime approach," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 67(3), pages 549-573, April.
    18. Engle, Robert F, 1982. "Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity with Estimates of the Variance of United Kingdom Inflation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 987-1007, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bollerslev, Tim & Patton, Andrew J. & Quaedvlieg, Rogier, 2020. "Multivariate leverage effects and realized semicovariance GARCH models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 411-430.
    2. Demetrio Lacava & Edoardo Otranto, 2026. "Trade uncertainty impact on stock-bond correlations: Insights from conditional correlation models," Papers 2601.21447, arXiv.org.
    3. Mariagrazia Fallanca & Antonio Fabio Forgione & Edoardo Otranto, 2021. "Do the Determinants of Non-Performing Loans Have a Different Effect over Time? A Conditional Correlation Approach," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Pan, Zhiyuan & Wang, Yudong & Yang, Li, 2014. "Hedging crude oil using refined product: A regime switching asymmetric DCC approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 472-484.
    5. Chia-Lin Chang & Yiying Li & Michael McAleer, 2018. "Volatility Spillovers between Energy and Agricultural Markets: A Critical Appraisal of Theory and Practice," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-19, June.
    6. Massimiliano Caporin & Michael McAleer, 2011. "Thresholds, news impact surfaces and dynamic asymmetric multivariate GARCH," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 65(2), pages 125-163, May.
    7. Francq, Christian & Zakoian, Jean-Michel, 2014. "Estimating multivariate GARCH and stochastic correlation models equation by equation," MPRA Paper 54250, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Luc Bauwens & Edoardo Otranto, 2023. "Modeling Realized Covariance Matrices: A Class of Hadamard Exponential Models," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 1376-1401.
    9. Otranto, Edoardo, 2010. "Identifying financial time series with similar dynamic conditional correlation," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Michael McAleer, 2009. "The Ten Commandments For Optimizing Value‐At‐Risk And Daily Capital Charges," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(5), pages 831-849, December.
    11. Haoyuan Wang & Chen Liu & Minh-Ngoc Tran & Chao Wang, 2025. "Deep Learning Enhanced Multivariate GARCH," Papers 2506.02796, arXiv.org.
    12. Massimiliano Caporin & Michael McAleer, 2013. "Ten Things You Should Know About DCC," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2013-12, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    13. Chang, Chia-Lin & González-Serrano, Lydia & Jimenez-Martin, Juan-Angel, 2013. "Currency hedging strategies using dynamic multivariate GARCH," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 164-182.
    14. Li, Degui, 2024. "Estimation of Large Dynamic Covariance Matrices: A Selective Review," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 16-30.
    15. Marçal, Emerson Fernandes & Pereira, Pedro L. Valls, 2008. "Testing the Hypothesis of Contagion Using Multivariate Volatility Models," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 28(2), November.
    16. Tran Hoang Hai, 2020. "Estimation of volatility causality in structural autoregressions with heteroskedasticity using independent component analysis," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 1-16, February.
    17. Boubacar Maïnassara, Y. & Kadmiri, O. & Saussereau, B., 2022. "Estimation of multivariate asymmetric power GARCH models," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    18. Grydaki, Maria & Bezemer, Dirk, 2013. "The role of credit in the Great Moderation: A multivariate GARCH approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4615-4626.
    19. de Oliveira, Felipe A. & Maia, Sinézio F. & de Jesus, Diego P. & Besarria, Cássio da N., 2018. "Which information matters to market risk spreading in Brazil? Volatility transmission modelling using MGARCH-BEKK, DCC, t-Copulas," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 83-100.
    20. Marçal, Emerson F. & Valls Pereira, Pedro L., 2008. "Testando A Hipótese De Contágio A Partir De Modelos Multivariados De Volatilidade [Testing the contagion hypotheses using multivariate volatility models]," MPRA Paper 10356, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2601.21534. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.