The Parties in Our Heads: Misperceptions about Party Composition and Their Consequences
Abstract
We document a large and consequential bias in how Americans perceive the major political parties: people tend to considerably overestimate the extent to which party supporters belong to party-stereotypical groups. For instance, people think that 32% of Democrats are LGBT (vs. 6% in reality) and 38% of Republicans earn over $250,000 per year (vs. 2% in reality). Experimental data suggest that these misperceptions are genuine and party specific, not artifacts of expressive responding, innumeracy, or ignorance of base rates. These misperceptions are widely shared, though bias in out-party perceptions is larger. Using observational and experimental data, we document the consequences of this perceptual bias. Misperceptions about out-party composition are associated with partisan affect, beliefs about out-party extremity, and allegiance to one’s own party. When provided information about the out-party’s actual composition, partisans come to see its supporters as less extreme and feel less socially distant from them.
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No experimental evidence is available on the effect of factual beliefs about political issues on affective polarization.
“Moreover, no experimental evidence is available on the effect of factual beliefs about political issues on affective polarization.”
From Factual belief polarization between Democrats and Republicans: source or epiphenomenon of ideological and affective polarization? (2024) · cites this paper as Ahler and Sood, 2018
Experimental research revealed that corrective information about the views and characteristics of political opponents can decrease affective polarization.
“experimental research revealed that corrective information about the views and characteristics of political opponents (as opposed to political issues) can decrease affective polarization (e.g., Ahler and Sood, 2018;Lees and Cikara, 2020).”
From Factual belief polarization between Democrats and Republicans: source or epiphenomenon of ideological and affective polarization? (2024) · cites this paper as Ahler and Sood, 2018
Only about 11% of Democrats belong to a labor union, but the average American thought that 39% of Democrats were union members; 44% of Republicans had this perception along with 37% of Democrats.
“Only about 11% of Democrats belong to a labor union, but in a large national survey, the average American thought that 39% of Democrats were union members; 44% of Republicans had this perception along with 37% of Democrats.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Ahler & Sood (2018)
Correcting misperceptions about party supporters reduces animus toward the other side.
“First, scholars have shown that correcting misperceptions about party supporters reduces animus toward the other side (Ahler & Sood 2018).”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Ahler & Sood 2018
Respondents overestimate the prevalence of party-stereotypical groups by 342%.
“Looking across a range of party-stereotypical groups, Ahler & Sood (2018) find that respondents overestimate the prevalence of these groups by 342%.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Ahler & Sood (2018)
When the typical American is asked about the composition of the parties, she tends to dramatically overreport the prevalence of partisan-stereotypical groups.
“Consequently, when the typical American is asked about the composition of the parties, she tends to dramatically overreport the prevalence of partisan-stereotypical groups.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Ahler & Sood (2018)
Only 2.2% of Republicans earn more than $250,000 per year, but the average citizen thought that 38% of Republicans earned that much.
“Likewise, while only 2.2% of Republicans earn more than $250,000 per year, the average citizen thought that 38% of Republicans earned that much.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Ahler & Sood (2018)
When Ahler & Sood (2018) correct respondents' misperceptions, respondents think the other party is less extreme, and affective polarization decreases.
“When Ahler & Sood (2018) correct respondents' misperceptions, respondents think the other party is less extreme, and affective polarization decreases (i.e., they like the other party more).”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Ahler & Sood (2018)
Many people are amenable to having their misperceptions of the other side corrected, which lowers affective polarization.
“Many people, it seems, are amenable to having their misperceptions of the other side corrected, which lowers affective polarization150,153,154.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [150]
In one study, Republicans overestimated the percentage of Democrats who were LGBTQ by 25 points, whereas Democrats overestimated the percentage of Republicans who were evangelicals by 20 points.
“In one study, Republicans overestimated the percentage of Democrats who were LGBTQ by 25 points, whereas Democrats overestimated the percentage of Republicans who were evangelicals by 20 points150.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [150]
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- Authors
- Ahler, D. J., & Sood, G.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Politics
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 80
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 964-981
- ISSN
- 0022-3816 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2508
- OpenAlex
- W2799430063
- Cited by
- 586
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 80 · 2025: 91 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 59 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 208.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Politics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
- Keywords
- partisan affect, party identification, social distance, partisan bias, partisanship
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