Fear and loathing across party lines: New evidence on group polarization
Abstract
When defined in terms of social identity and affect toward copartisans and opposing partisans, the polarization of the American electorate has dramatically increased. We document the scope and consequences of affective polarization of partisans using implicit, explicit, and behavioral indicators. Our evidence demonstrates that hostile feelings for the opposing party are ingrained or automatic in voters' minds, and that affective polarization based on party is just as strong as polarization based on race. We further show that party cues exert powerful effects on nonpolitical judgments and behaviors. Partisans discriminate against opposing partisans, doing so to a degree that exceeds discrimination based on race. We note that the willingness of partisans to display open animus for opposing partisans can be attributed to the absence of norms governing the expression of negative sentiment and that increased partisan affect provides an incentive for elites to engage in confrontation rather than cooperation.
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Affective polarization is on the rise.
“In the political domain, there is ample evidence that affective polarization is on the rise (Finkel et al. 2020, Iyengar & Westwood 2015), leading to concerns about reduced support for democratic norms (Broockman et al. 2022, Kingzette et al. 2021).”
From Social Media and Morality. (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
Polarization includes affective aspects related to ideology that foster differences between groups, favoring severe divisions between 'us' and 'them'.
“Some studies have found that polarization includes affective aspects related to ideology that foster the difference between groups, favoring severe divisions between us and them.”
From La ideología política, las creencias sociales y la polarización como obstáculos psicosociales para la democracia y la paz en Colombia, 2016-2020 (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood, 2015
Affective polarization is associated with social beliefs and the configuration of the other as an enemy or adversary.
“For various authors, it is an affective polarization associated with social beliefs and the configuration of the other as an enemy or adversary.”
From La ideología política, las creencias sociales y la polarización como obstáculos psicosociales para la democracia y la paz en Colombia, 2016-2020 (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood, 2015
Personalistic links established with electoral candidates lead to considering the other as an enemy.
“This is because personalistic links are established with electoral candidates that lead to a consideration of the other as an enemy.”
From La ideología política, las creencias sociales y la polarización como obstáculos psicosociales para la democracia y la paz en Colombia, 2016-2020 (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood, 2015
Polarization has an emotional and affective dimension that unfolds in social life and everyday relationships and goes beyond ideological opposition.
“Hence, polarization has an emotional and affective dimension that unfolds in social life and everyday relationships and goes beyond ideological opposition.”
From La ideología política, las creencias sociales y la polarización como obstáculos psicosociales para la democracia y la paz en Colombia, 2016-2020 (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood, 2015
Affective polarization results in moral disqualification of the opponent, oversimplification of their position, exacerbation of disputes in everyday interactions, and personalization of political events.
“This results in moral disqualification of the opponent, oversimplification of their position, exacerbation of disputes in everyday interactions, and personalization of political events.”
From La ideología política, las creencias sociales y la polarización como obstáculos psicosociales para la democracia y la paz en Colombia, 2016-2020 (2024) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood, 2015
Partisanship is emerging as an important social identity under which many societal divisions and conflicts are coming to align.
“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 [16]
Iyengar and Westwood (2015) use trust and dictator games to show people discriminate against those from other parties more than they do toward people of different races.
“Iyengar and Westwood (2015) use trust and dictator games to show people discriminate against those from other parties more than they do toward people of different races (also see Carlin & Love, 2013, 2018;Whitt et al., 2024).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Iyengar and Westwood (2015)
Affective polarization is a natural offshoot of partisan group identity.
“From a social identity perspective, affective polarization is a natural offshoot of this sense of partisan group identity”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
In the scholarship study, there was little racial bias; whites preferred the African American applicant (55.8%).
“The results indicated little racial bias; whites, in fact, preferred the African American applicant (55.8%).”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
The difference in the D-score across the party divide was 0.50, while the corresponding difference in implicit racial bias across the racial divide was only 0.18.
“The difference in the D-score-the operational indicator of implicit bias-across the party divide was 0.50, while the corresponding difference in implicit racial bias across the racial divide was only 0.18 (see also Theodoridis 2017 for an application of implicit measures to the study of partisanship).”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
Relative to implicit racial bias, implicit partisan bias is more widespread.
“Relative to implicit racial bias, implicit partisan bias is more widespread.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
Copartisans consistently receive a bonus while opposing partisans are subject to a financial penalty in economic games.
“Results show that copartisans consistently receive a bonus while opposing partisans are subject to a financial penalty.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
Implicit bias is less pronounced than explicit bias as measured through survey questions; 91% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats in the same study explicitly evaluated their party more favorably.
“Interestingly, implicit bias is less pronounced than explicit bias as measured through survey questions; 91% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats in the same study explicitly evaluated their party more favorably.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
79.2% of Democrats picked the Democratic applicant and 80% of Republicans picked the Republican applicant.
“But 79.2% of Democrats picked the Democratic applicant and 80% of Republicans picked the Republican applicant.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
Approximately 70% of Democrats and Republicans show a bias in favor of their party on the IAT.
“Their results showed that implicit bias is ingrained; approximately 70% of Democrats and Republicans show a bias in favor of their party.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
These results held even when the out-party candidate had a significantly higher grade point average (4.0 versus 3.5); the probability of a partisan selecting the more qualified out-party candidate was never above 30%.
“These results held even when the out-party candidate had a significantly higher grade point average (4.0 versus 3.5); the probability of a partisan selecting the more qualified out-party candidate was never above 30%.”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Iyengar & Westwood 2015
The literature on mass political polarization in the USA has yielded mixed findings about whether ordinary citizens are deeply divided, whether polarization threatens democratic functioning, and the nature of the threat.
“The body of literature on mass political polarization in the USA has yielded mixed findings: ordinary citizens are deeply divided9,31,35,41–49 or they are not10,29,36,50–54; polarization poses a huge threat to democratic functioning3,11,55, is not a problem at all13,56–58 or the nature of the threat is ambiguous7,59,60.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [44]
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- Authors
- Iyengar, S., & Westwood, S. J.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Political Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-12-16
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 690-707
- ISSN
- 0092-5853 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-5907
- OpenAlex
- W2137998590
- Cited by
- 2,452
- References
- 76
- Citations by year
- 2026: 241 · 2025: 226 · 2024: 249 · 2023: 313 · 2022: 248 · 2021: 273 · 2020: 330 · 2019: 232 · 2018: 165 · 2017: 96 · 2016: 55 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 374.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Political Science (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
- affective polarization, party identification, partisan hostility, social identity, racial discrimination, implicit attitudes, American voters
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