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Affect, Not Ideology
Abstract
The current debate over the extent of polarization in the American mass public focuses on the extent to which partisans’ policy preferences have moved. Whereas “maximalists” claim that partisans’ views on policies have become more extreme over time (Abramowitz 2010), “minimalists” (Fiorina and Abrams 2009) contend that the majority of Americans remain centrist, and that what little centrifugal movement has occurred reflects sorting, i.e., the increased association between partisanship and ideology. We argue in favor of an alternative definition of polarization, based on the classic concept of social distance (Bogardus 1947). Using data from a variety of sources, we demonstrate that both Republicans and Democrats increasingly dislike, even loathe, their opponents. We also find that partisan affect is inconsistently (and perhaps artifactually) founded in policy attitudes. The more plausible account lies in the nature of political campaigns; exposure to messages attacking the out-group reinforces partisans’ biased views of their opponents.
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In the citing paper
“These observational approaches raise a critical inferential challenge, as they do not allow researchers to separate the impact of obtaining factual knowledge from the effect of other variables that are typically correlated with both domain-specific political knowledge and attitude polarization, such as the intensity of one’s political group identity11, one’s pre-existing factual beliefs21, or one’”
From Factual knowledge can reduce attitude polarization (2025) · cites this paper as [22]
In the citing paper
“A growing body of evidence shows that affective polarization is indeed on the rise in the United States.”
From Affective Polarization in Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective (2023) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012
In the citing paper
“Available research shows that US voters’ evaluation of their own parties and candidates is stable, yet they have come to dislike their opponents more over time (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012, p. 413; Abramowitz and Webster 2016, p. 15; Finkel et al. 2020, p. 534).”
From Affective Polarization in Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective (2023) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012
In the citing paper
“Available research shows that US voters’ evaluation of their own parties and candidates is stable, yet they have come to dislike their opponents more over time (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012, p. 413; Abramowitz and Webster 2016, p. 15; Finkel et al. 2020, p. 534).”
From Affective Polarization in Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective (2023) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012
In the citing paper
“This development appears to be driven by voters’ tendency to increasingly dislike parties and candidates they do not support.”
From Affective Polarization in Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective (2023) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012
In the citing paper
“Second, selective exposure to like-minded information would also likely result in affective polarizationa process of opinion formation in which individuals develop diverging evaluations of attitude objects (e.g., in-group vs. out-group candidates) in a partisan context (Abramowitz & Webster, 2016;Iyengar et al., 2012;Levendusky, 2018).”
From Do Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political Polarization (2020) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“Recent work on public opinion suggests that there is an increasing tendency that people, especially partisans, defend the in-group and dislike the out-group (Iyengar et al., 2012;Levendusky, 2018).”
From Do Search Algorithms Endanger Democracy? An Experimental Investigation of Algorithm Effects on Political Polarization (2020) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“it may boost accountability and decrease corruption but can also contribute to the aforementioned harmful forms of polarization”
From Political polarization and corruption: A theoretical and empirical review (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“Firstly, ideological polarization of political parties was shown to increase partisanship (Iyengar et al., 2012;Lupu, 2015)”
From Political polarization and corruption: A theoretical and empirical review (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“De acuerdo a nuestra búsqueda, Iyengar, Sood y Lelkes (2012) son los primeros autores en acuñar el término”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood y Lelkes (2012)
In the citing paper
“Varios investigadores en ciencia política sostienen que la polarización afectiva refleja ese proceso en un estado de hiperactividad (Garrett et al., 2014;Iyengar et al., 2012;Van Babel y Pereira, 2018).”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“Utilizando esta medida, Iyengar et al. (2012) muestran como la polarización en EEUU ha ido creciendo sostenidamente en las últimas décadas.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“En su trabajo pionero realizado a partir de datos de encuestas en series de tiempo, Iyengar et al. (2012) mostraron que la creciente hostilidad entre los líderes demócratas y republicanos a partir de campañas agresivas contribuyó a la polarización afectiva en EEUU en las últimas décadas, medida a partir de cambios en la distancia social tolerada y el nivel de cercanía afectiva.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Esto se debe a que el grado de afecto hacia el partido opositor es cada vez más bajo.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“En la última década, la literatura en ciencia política ha introducido un nuevo concepto denominado "polarización afectiva" para caracterizar una forma de polarización política en la que predominan actitudes de favoritismo por el propio grupo y desprecio hacia el grupo rival.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“No obstante, cuando el análisis se restringe a esos dos términos, el resultado persiste.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“En contraste, el grado de afecto hacia el partido propio se ha mantenido relativamente estable a lo largo de las últimas décadas.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“En 1960, sólo al 4-5% le resultaba molesto que su hijo se case con alguien del partido opuesto, mientras que para 2010 esa cifra saltó al 33% en los demócratas y al 50% en los republicanos (Iyengar et al., 2012).”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“En su estudio pionero, Iyengar y colaboradores (2012) muestran que los americanos expresan cada vez más negatividad ante la perspectiva de que su hijo se case con alguien del partido contrario.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Por ejemplo, Iyengar et al. (2012) compararon dos encuestas del tipo mencionado, una realizada en 1960 y otra en 2008 en EEUU, y encuentran que el sesgo in-group de adscribir más rasgos positivos hacia los del propio partido y el sesgo out-group de asignar más rasgos negativos a los miembros del partido rival crecieron exponencialmente de un período al otro.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Aunque Iyengar y colaboradores no reportan el resultado de la correlación, sí muestran que mientras la polarización afectiva es creciente con el paso del tiempo, la polarización ideológica es estable.”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Particularmente, es claro que los investigadores del área pretenden distinguir la polarización afectiva (o actitudinal) de la polarización ideológica (Iyengar et al., 2012).”
From El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica (2022) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“La polarización política implica el dominio de la identidad partidaria/ideológica sobre otras formas de identificación y acción política (Iyengar et al,2012)”
From ¿Es válido atribuir la polarización política a la comunicación digital? Sobre burbujas, plataformas y polarización afectiva (2020) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al,2012
In the citing paper
“While the political divide has remained relatively stable in the United States in terms of issue positions (33), many other indicators point to a significant increase in partisan polarization and animosity in the mass public (18, 34): Democrats and Republicans are growing increasingly cold to each other, coming to dislike or even disdain their partisan opponents (15).”
From How digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting (2022) · cites this paper as [15]
In the citing paper
“Many scholars link these negative feelings to shifts in identity, with partisanship emerging as an important social identity under which many societal divisions and conflicts are coming to align (15–18).”
From How digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting (2022) · cites this paper as [15]
In the citing paper
“Iyengar et al. (2012) grounded affective polarization in Tajfel and Turner's (1979) social identity theory: partisanship is a social, not simply a political, identity.”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“sorting causes partisans to “dislike, even loathe” one another (15)”
From How digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting (2022) · cites this paper as [15]
In the citing paper
“Beginning with Iyengar et al. (2012), scholars have often used two measures that were included in surveys long before theories of affective polarization emerged: party feeling thermometers and social distance items.”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Estas inercias contribuyen a un aumento en los niveles de polarización y hostilidad intergrupal, impulsando las emociones negativas hacia aquellos que se identifican con grupos opuestos (Iyengar, Sood y Lelkes, 2012).”
From Homofilia, polarización afectiva y desinformación en Twitter. Caso de estudio sobre la crisis migratoria #Openarms (2021) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood y Lelkes, 2012
In the citing paper
“they find “The difference in social distance between the parties was highly significant (p < .01)…Republicans maintain greater social distance from Democrats” (418).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Las creencias amplificadas y percepciones segregadas sobre el mundo forman la base para tomar actitudes (Iyengar et al., 2012).”
From Homofilia, polarización afectiva y desinformación en Twitter. Caso de estudio sobre la crisis migratoria #Openarms (2021) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“and that extremity in issue opinions is not a necessary condition for affective polarization”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“Rather, we argue that affective polarization is largely distinct from the ideological divide”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“and ( b ) affective polarization actually decreased between 2012 and 2016.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“Iyengar et al. (2012) show that Americans have become increasingly averse to the prospect of their child marrying someone from the opposing party.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“It is particularly noteworthy that ( a ) the change is not that people like their own party more over time; rather, there is an increase in out-party animus, especially in recent years”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“We also plot affective polarization ( gray line )-the difference between mean in-party feeling and mean out-party feeling-which shows a significant increase over time (Iyengar et al. 2012), mainly due to an increase in animus against the out-party.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“Ordinary Americans increasingly dislike and distrust those from the other party.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“with Republicans especially sensitive to crossparty marriage”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“In 1960, only 4-5% were upset with their child marrying someone from the out party, but that figure had jumped to one-third of Democrats and one-half of Republicans by 2010 (Iyengar et al. 2012, pp. 416-18).”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. 2012
In the citing paper
“According to Iyengar et al. (2012), the percentage of Americans who would be somewhat or very unhappy if their child married someone of the opposite party has increased by about 35 percentage points over the last 50 years”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al. (2012)
In the citing paper
“Finally, affective polarization (Fig. 1c) occurs when members of different social groups (or political parties) hold strong positive or negative attitudes (or feelings) about the groups themselves (not just their policy preferences49,79), owing to ‘in-party love’ and/or ‘out-party animus’80.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [79]
In the citing paper
“Se coincide en la importancia de las campañas como fenómenos que aumentan la manifestación de la identidad social y afectiva (Iyengar et al., 2012;Rodríguez et al., 2022).”
From Polarización en Twitter/X: análisis del debate generado por los medios de comunicación durante las elecciones locales y autonómicas del 28-M 2023 en España (2026) · cites this paper as Iyengar et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“Desde la perspectiva de Iyengar, el elemento constitutivo del proceso de polarización se desprende de las percepciones y miradas hacia "el otro" (político) que van tejiendo la hostilidad afectiva entre grupos.”
From “TE AMO, TE ODIO: DAME MÁS”*Polarización afectiva en la opinión pública argentina (2023) · cites this paper as Iyengar, Sood y Lelkes (2012)
In the citing paper
“Scholars have made the conceptual distinction between issue polarization—an ideological, policy-based political divide, and affective polarization, i.e. dislike, distrust, and general animosity of political partisans toward the other political side (5, 61, 62).”
From Troll and divide: the language of online polarization (2022) · cites this paper as [61]
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The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States
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“In 1960, only 4–5% were upset with their child marrying someone from the out party, but that figure had jumped to one-third of Democrats and one-half of Republicans by 2010 (Iyengar et al. 2012, pp. 416–18).”
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“…Iyengar1 and Sean J. Westwood2 1Chandler Chair of Communication and Professor of Political Science Stanford University Building 120, Room 110 450 Serra Mall Stanford, CA 94305-2050 2Post-Doctoral Researcher Princeton University 308 Robertson Hall Princeton, NJ 08544 July 6, 2014 Contents”
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BackgroundInfluentialNisbet, E. C., Cooper, K. E., & Garrett, R. K. (2015) · The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · doi:10.1177/0002716214555474 · Cited by 437
Fake news and ideological polarization: Filter bubbles and selective exposure on social media
Spohr, D. (2017) · Business Information Review · doi:10.1177/0266382117722446 · Cited by 530
“Iyengar and others consider this trend of negative sentiment towards the opposing ideological group based on the concept of social distance (Bogardus, 1947) a better, ‘more diagnostic, indicator of mass polarisation’ than pure policy-based division and voting patterns (Iyengar et al., 2012, p. 406).”
BackgroundConfirmation bias, ingroup bias, and negativity bias in selective exposure to political information
Knobloch-Westerwick, S., Mothes, C., & Polavin, N. (2020) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650217719596 · Cited by 391
“…is as strong as the preference for attitude-consistent content (Garrett, 2009) and how the confirmation bias may foster political polarization (e.g., Iyengar et al., 2012; Stroud, 2010), the current view is that information users generally approach political messages with a confirmation bias.”
BackgroundIdeologues without Issues: The Polarizing Consequences of Ideological Identities
Mason, L. (2018) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfy005 · Cited by 550
Mass polarization: Manifestations and measurements
Lelkes, Y. (2016) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfw005 · Cited by 591
Gentzkow, M., Shapiro, J. M., & Taddy, M. (2019) · Econometrica · doi:10.3982/ecta16566 · Cited by 381
Shin, J., & Thorson, K. (2017) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/jcom.12284 · Cited by 481
Scientific communication in a post-truth society
Iyengar, S., & Massey, D. S. (2019) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1805868115 · Cited by 374
Self-citationElusive consensus: Polarization in elite communication on the COVID-19 pandemic
Green, J., Edgerton, J. F., Naftel, D., Shoub, K., & Cranmer, S. (2020) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc2717 · Cited by 378
Causes and Consequences of Polarization
Barber, M. J., & McCarty, N. (2015) · Solutions to Political Polarization in America · doi:10.1017/cbo9781316091906.002 · Cited by 375
The Ideological Foundations of Affective Polarization in the U.S. Electorate
Webster, S. W., & Abramowitz, A. I. (2017) · American Politics Research · doi:10.1177/1532673x17703132 · Cited by 557
“Thus, according to Iyengar et al. (2012), Americans “increasingly dislike, even loathe, their opponents” but this same partisan affect is “inconsistently (and perhaps artifactually) founded in policy attitudes” (p. 405).”
BackgroundInfluentialSocial Media, Echo Chambers, and Political Polarization
Barberá, P. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.004 · Cited by 373
“This alternative conceptualization of polarization is often called “ affective polarization ” (Iyengar et al. 2012 ) or “ psychological polarization ” (Settle 2018 ) as opposed to “ ideological polarization, ” which would be limited to divergence of political views.”
Americans, Not Partisans: Can Priming American National Identity Reduce Affective Polarization?
Levendusky, M. S. (2018) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/693987 · Cited by 492
“For example, the average rating given to members of the opposing party on the 100-point feeling thermometer scale used by the National Election Study dropped 15 degrees between 1988 and 2008 (Iyengar et al. 2012, 412– 13; see also Abramowitz and Webster 2016).”
MethodInfluentialDivided by the vote: Affective polarization in the wake of the Brexit referendum
Hobolt, S. B., Leeper, T. J., & Tilley, J. (2021) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123420000125 · Cited by 496
DellaPosta, D., Shi, Y., & Macy, M. (2015) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/681254 · Cited by 440
“Recent evidence suggests that even the choice of partisan marital partners has become divisive: Democrats and Republicans increasingly report that they would be upset if their children married someone of the opposite party ðIyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012Þ.”
BackgroundA Cross-Cutting Calm: How Social Sorting Drives Affective Polarization
Mason, L. (2016) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfw001 · Cited by 413
(Mis)perceptions of Partisan Polarization in the American Public
Levendusky, M. S., & Malhotra, N. (2016) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfv045 · Cited by 356
Roots of the Radical Right: Nostalgic Deprivation in the United States and Britain
Gest, J., Reny, T. T., & Mayer, J. D. (2017) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414017720705 · Cited by 368
How do social media feed algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election campaign?
Guess, A. M., Malhotra, N., Pan, J., Barberá, P., Allcott, H., Brown, T., Crespo-Tenorio, A., Dimmery, D., Freelon, D., Gentzkow, M., et al. (2023) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abp9364 · Cited by 363
The tie that divides: Cross‐national evidence of the primacy of partyism
Westwood, S. J., Iyengar, S., Walgrave, S., Leonisio, R., Miller, L. M., & Strijbis, O. (2017) · European Journal of Political Research · doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12228 · Cited by 388
“(12)Explanations for the shift toward ideologically polarized parties in the absence of strong social cleavages include institutional developments, most notably, the adoption of primary elections to nominate candidates as well as the prolonged and often hostile tenor of American political campaigns (Iyengar et al. 201…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationThe Strengthening of Partisan Affect
Iyengar, S., & Krupenkin, M. (2018) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12487 · Cited by 527
Self-citationThe Economic Consequences of Partisanship in a Polarized Era
McConnell, C., Margalit, Y., Malhotra, N., & Levendusky, M. (2018) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12330 · Cited by 432
Political Beliefs affect Compliance with COVID-19 Social Distancing OrdersPreprint
Painter, M., & Qiu, T. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3569098 · Cited by 322
The effect of partisanship and political advertising on close family ties
Chen, M. K., & Rohla, R. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aaq1433 · Cited by 321
Intellectual humility and openness to the opposing view
Porter, T., & Schumann, K. (2018) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2017.1361861 · Cited by 314
Cross-Country Trends in Affective Polarization
Boxell, L., Gentzkow, M., & Shapiro, J. M. (2024) · Review of Economics and Statistics · doi:10.1162/rest_a_01160 · Cited by 457
“If there are two parties and all respondents state their affect towards both, then affective polarization Π is the difference between weighted mean own-party affect and weighted mean other-party affect, as in Iyengar et al. (2019).4 We obtain data on various potential explanatory variables at the level of the country…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialBoxell, L., Gentzkow, M., & Shapiro, J. M. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1706588114 · Cited by 467
“Examples include affect polarization (6) and straight-ticket voting (13).”
BackgroundThe Limits of Partisan Prejudice
Lelkes, Y., & Westwood, S. J. (2017) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/688223 · Cited by 311
“Despite this work in psychology, the majority of the political science literature suggests, although does not formally test, that partisanship is a special case where punitive behavior is especially prevalent and acceptable (e.g., see Bishop 2009; Iyengar et al. 2012; Iyengar and Westwood 2015).”
InfluentialFrenemies: How Social Media Polarizes America
Settle, J. E. (2018) · doi:10.1017/9781108560573 · Cited by 377
Facts and Where to Find Them: Empirical Research on Internet Platforms and Content Moderation
Keller, D., & Leerssen, P. (2020) · Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) · doi:10.1017/9781108890960
Does Media Coverage of Partisan Polarization Affect Political Attitudes?
Levendusky, M., & Malhotra, N. (2016) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2015.1038455 · Cited by 419
“This should decrease positive affect for members of the opposing party and increase affective polarization, or a personal dislike of the opposition (Iyengar et al., 2012; Iyengar & Westwood, in press; Mason, 2012, 2015).”
BackgroundHow digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting
Törnberg, P. (2022) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2207159119 · Cited by 288
Fear, Anger, and Voting for the Far Right: Evidence From the November 13, 2015 Paris Terror Attacks
Vasilopoulos, P., Marcus, G. E., Valentino, N. A., & Foucault, M. (2018) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12513 · Cited by 322
Self-Fulfilling Misperceptions of Public Polarization
Ahler, D. J. (2014) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1017/s0022381614000085 · Cited by 289
Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts
Jost, J. T., Baldassarri, D. S., & Druckman, J. N. (2022) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-022-00093-5 · Cited by 276
Is Deliberation an Antidote to Extreme Partisan Polarization? Reflections on “America in One Room”
Fishkin, J. S., Siu, A., Diamond, L. J., & Bradburn, N. M. (2021) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055421000642 · Cited by 293
Prior, M., Sood, G., & Khanna, K. (2015) · Quarterly Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1561/100.00014127 · Cited by 418
“…with early work on voting behavior, none more influential than The American Voter (Campbell et al., 1960), and continuing at a steady pace (e.g., Iyengar et al., 2012; Lodge and Hamill, 1986; Rahn, 1993; Taber and Lodge, 2006), documentation of partisanship as the structuring force in U.S.…”
BackgroundSelf-citationPartisanship as a Social Identity: Implications for Polarization
West, E. A., & Iyengar, S. (2020) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-020-09637-y · Cited by 303
Self-citationGarrett, R. K., Gvirsman, S. D., Johnson, B. K., Tsfati, Y., Neo, R., & Dal, A. (2014) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1111/hcre.12028 · Cited by 351
“Affective polarization, as operationalized by Iyengar et al. (2012), has at least two dimensions: favorability and social distance.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialWhere ‘fake news’ flourishes: a comparison across four Western democracies
Humprecht, E. (2019) · Information Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2018.1474241 · Cited by 204
The Home as a Political Fortress: Family Agreement in an Era of Polarization
Iyengar, S., Konitzer, T., & Tedin, K. L. (2018) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/698929 · Cited by 261
“Most dramatic is the increase in the percentage of partisans who express reservations over the prospect of a son or daughter marrying an out-group partisan—from single digits in the 1960s to a quarter of the electorate in the twentyfirst century (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012).”
BackgroundSelf-citationDoes affective polarization undermine democratic norms or accountability? Maybe not
Broockman, D. E., Kalla, J. L., & Westwood, S. J. (2023) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12719 · Cited by 297
Polarization: What Everyone Needs to Know®
McCarty, N. (2019) · doi:10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001 · Cited by 280
Peterson, E., & Iyengar, S. (2019) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/pmn7h · Cited by 241
Self-citationIdentity as Dependent Variable: How Americans Shift Their Identities to Align with Their Politics
Egan, P. J. (2019) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12496 · Cited by 234
Wojcieszak, M., & Warner, B. R. (2020) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2020.1760406 · Cited by 232
The Moral Roots of Partisan Division: How Moral Conviction Heightens Affective Polarization
Garrett, K. N., & Bankert, A. (2018) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s000712341700059x · Cited by 245
Gimpel, J. G., & Hui, I. S. (2015) · Political Geography · doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.11.003 · Cited by 228
Saura, J. R., Soriano, D. R., & Palacios‐Marqués, D. (2021) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2021.102331 · Cited by 234
“According to Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes (2012) and Reyes-Me-nendez et al. (2020), this allows for measuring log-likehood to determine the importance of the identified topics in the overall analyzed content.”
BackgroundPolarization in the contemporary political and media landscape
Wilson, A. E., Parker, V. A., & Feinberg, M. (2020) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.07.005 · Cited by 220
Kim, J. W., Guess, A. M., Nyhan, B. J., & Reifler, J. (2021) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1093/joc/jqab034 · Cited by 221
“Specifically, partisan strength and political involvement are associated with negative affect towards the opposing party (Iyengar et al. 2012) and adopting extreme policy attitudes (Taber & Lodge 2006).”
BackgroundPluralistic Collapse: The “Oil Spill” Model of Mass Opinion Polarization
DellaPosta, D. (2020) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122420922989 · Cited by 219
“…and Brewer 2002) suggest such a collapse of previously cross-cutting identities will likely reduce outgroup tolerance and might thereby account for the increasingly harsh tenor of political disagreement perceived by scholars of affective polarization (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012; Mason 2018).”
BackgroundA Three-Decade Retrospective on the Hostile Media Effect
Perloff, R. M. (2015) · Mass Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/15205436.2015.1051234 · Cited by 235
Understanding Polarization: Meanings, Measures, and Model Evaluation
Bramson, A., Grim, P., Singer, D. J., Berger, W. J., Sack, G., Fisher, S., Flocken, C., & Holman, B. (2017) · Philosophy of Science · doi:10.1086/688938 · Cited by 216
“…laboratory studies on media influence and attitude change all in search of a better understanding of central mechanisms (Fiorina and Abrams 2008; Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012; Ura and Ellis 2012; Druckman, Peterson, and Slothuus 2013; Großer and Palfrey 2013; Lauderdale 2013; Levendusky 2013;…”
BackgroundThe Nature of Affective Polarization: Disentangling Policy Disagreement from Partisan Identity
Dias, N., & Lelkes, Y. (2022) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12628 · Cited by 338
The Politics of Beauty: The Effects of Partisan Bias on Physical Attractiveness
Nicholson, S. P., Coe, C. M., Emory, J., & Song, A. V. (2016) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-016-9339-7 · Cited by 210
“4; Iyengar et al. 2012; Levendusky 2009).”
InfluentialThe Policy Basis of Measured Partisan Animosity in the United States
Orr, L., & Huber, G. A. (2019) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12498 · Cited by 214
“The magnitude of this difference has grown since 1960, and discrimination on the basis of partisanship may have surpassed racial discrimination in some contexts (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012; Iyengar and Westwood 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialLink recommendation algorithms and dynamics of polarization in online social networks
Santos, F. P., Yphtach Lelkes, B., & Levin, S. A. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2102141118 · Cited by 250
“Recent results indicate that opinion divergence can evolve concurrently with outgroup bias (12, 13), which suggests combining opinions with dynamics on strategies, norms, reputations, and out-group/ingroup cooperation (74–77)—in line with some works in this Special Feature on polarization, cooperation, and group ident…”
BackgroundPolitical Psychology in the Digital (mis)Information age: A Model of News Belief and Sharing
Van Bavel, J. J., Harris, E. A., Pärnamets, P., Rathje, S., Doell, K. C., & Tucker, J. A. (2021) · Social Issues and Policy Review · doi:10.1111/sipr.12077 · Cited by 213
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Online Propaganda
Guess, A. M., & Lyons, B. A. (2020) · Social Media and Democracy · doi:10.1017/9781108890960.003 · Cited by 284
How Empathic Concern Fuels Political Polarization
Simas, E. N., Clifford, S., & Kirkland, J. H. (2019) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055419000534 · Cited by 219
Psychological Barriers to Bipartisan Public Support for Climate Policy
Van Boven, L., Ehret, P. J., & Sherman, D. K. (2018) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691617748966 · Cited by 228
Social learning and partisan bias in the interpretation of climate trends
Guilbeault, D., Becker, J. A., & Centola, D. M. (2018) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1722664115 · Cited by 204
Hayes, D., & Lawless, J. L. (2014) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/679749 · Cited by 224
Hasell, A., & Weeks, B. E. (2016) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1111/hcre.12092 · Cited by 246
“Partisan media can be polarizing and influence attitudes toward those with opposing views (Arceneaux, Johnson, & Cryderman, 2013; Garrett et al., 2014; Iyengar et al., 2012; Levendusky, 2013b; Stroud, 2010).”
BackgroundThe Bolsonaro Voter: Issue Positions and Vote Choice in the 2018 Brazilian Presidential Elections
Rennó, L. R. (2020) · Latin American Politics and Society · doi:10.1017/lap.2020.13 · Cited by 198
Partisan Professionals: Evidence from Credit Rating Analysts
Kempf, E., & Tsoutsoura, M. (2021) · The Journal of Finance · doi:10.1111/jofi.13083 · Cited by 220
Metadata
- Authors
- Iyengar, S., Sood, G., & Lelkes, Y.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- ORCID
- Iyengar, Shanto
- Venue
- Public Opinion Quarterly
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-09-01
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 405-431
- ISSN
- 0033-362X (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5331
- OpenAlex
- W2124751389
- Semantic Scholar
- 1932d6438e6b18d4a97fb3c88c0463fc08b12879
- Cited by
- 2,996
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 465 · 2025: 445 · 2024: 388 · 2023: 275 · 2022: 299 · 2021: 273 · 2020: 247 · 2019: 162 · 2018: 170 · 2017: 108 · 2016: 70 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 149.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Public Opinion Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- political polarization, partisan affect, social distance, partisanship, ideology, policy attitudes, outgroup hostility, political campaigns, partisan sorting, American public opinion
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