What do we measure when we measure affective polarization?
Abstract
Affective polarization—the tendency of Democrats and Republicans to dislike and distrust one another—has become an important phenomenon in American politics. Yet, despite scholarly attention to this topic, two measurement lacunae remain. First, how do the different measures of this concept relate to one another—are they interchangeable? Second, these items all ask respondents about the parties. When individuals answer them, do they think of voters, elites, or both? We demonstrate differences across items, and scholars should carefully think about which items best match their particular research question. Second, we show that when answering questions about the other party, individuals think about elites more than voters. More generally, individuals dislike voters from the other party, but they harbor even more animus toward the other party’s elites. The research note concludes by discussing the consequences for both measuring this concept and understanding its ramifications.
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When asked to rate the parties on feeling thermometers, respondents tend to think more about party elites than of typical voters, although differences in ratings of voters vs. elites are not large.
“Druckman and Levendusky (2019) suggest that when asked this question, respondents tend to think more about party elites than of typical voters, although the differences in ratings of the two groups (voters vs. elites) are not large.”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Druckman and Levendusky (2019)
Which party target people are evaluating matters for affective polarization measurement.
“Which one people are evaluating matters (Druckman et al., 2022;Druckman & Levendusky, 2019).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Druckman & Levendusky, 2019
Results for each affective polarization measure separately reveal important distinctions between the measures, with social distance items being unique in several ways.
“In Table 1, we also present the results for each affective polarization measure separately.These results reveal important distinctions between the various measures, with the social distance items being unique in several ways (see also Druckman & Levendusky, 2019).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Druckman & Levendusky, 2019
Data from Druckman and Levendusky (2019) reveal similar partisan differences from 2017.
“Data from Druckman and Levendusky (2019) reveal similar partisan differences from 2017.”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Druckman and Levendusky (2019)
Generalized climate change beliefs over time are increasing.
“Longitudinal analysis in prior work suggests that generalized climate change beliefs over time are increasing [15], [16]”
From Affective Polarization in Online Climate Change Discourse on Twitter (2020) · cites this paper as [16]
Respondents clearly differentiated between voters, partisans and parties, with out-voters receiving higher affective scores.
“In line with Druckman and Levendusky (2019) and Kingzette (2021), respondents clearly differentiated between voters, partisans and parties, with out-voters receiving higher affective scores.”
From Them’ without ‘us’: Negative identities and affective polarization in Brazil (2022) · cites this paper as Druckman and Levendusky (2019)
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Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures
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“…la diferencia entre la adhesión o favorabili-dad hacia determinados grupos sociales o actores políticos percibidos como propios o cercanos ( in-group) y el rechazo u hos-tilidad hacia los percibidos como opues-tos o adversarios ( out-group ) (Druckman y Levendusky, 2019; Iyengar y Westwood, 2015).”
- Authors
- Druckman, J. N., & Levendusky, M. S.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Druckman, James N
- Venue
- Public Opinion Quarterly
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2019
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 114-122
- ISSN
- 0033-362X (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5331
- OpenAlex
- W2943978859
- Cited by
- 615
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 107 · 2025: 79 · 2024: 122 · 2023: 112 · 2022: 100 · 2021: 55 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 206.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Public Opinion Quarterly (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 › Media Influence and Politics
- Keywords
- affective polarization, partisan animosity, party identification, political elites, measurement invariance, political distrust, Democrats and Republicans
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