Does Media Coverage of Partisan Polarization Affect Political Attitudes?
Abstract
The past decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in the partisan polarization of the American electorate. Scholarly investigation of this topic has coincided with the media’s portrayal of a polity deeply divided along partisan lines. Yet little research so far has considered the consequences of the media’s coverage of political polarization. We show that media coverage of polarization increases citizens’ beliefs that the electorate is polarized. Furthermore, the media’s depiction of a polarized electorate causes voters to moderate their own issue positions but increases their dislike of the opposing party. These empirical patterns are consistent with our theoretical argument that polarized exemplars in journalistic coverage serve as anti-cues to media consumers. Our findings have important implications for understanding current and future trends in political polarization.
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Media coverage that is critical of polarization among political elites can reduce issue polarization among citizens, presumably because people do not want to be seen as extremists.
“By contrast, media coverage that is critical of polarization among political elites can reduce issue polarization among citizens, presumably because people do not want to be seen (by themselves or others) as extremists122,158–160.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [159]
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- Authors
- Levendusky, M., & Malhotra, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Levendusky, Matthew
- Venue
- Political Communication
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-07-27
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 283-301
- ISSN
- 1058-4609 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-7675
- OpenAlex
- W2210688559
- Cited by
- 419
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 62 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 59.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Political Communication (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Political Science Association
- University of Toronto
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Keywords
- partisan polarization, media coverage, political attitudes, perceived polarization, issue positions, American electorate
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