Implications of Pro- and Counterattitudinal Information Exposure for Affective Polarization: Partisan Media Exposure and Affective Polarization
Abstract
The American electorate is characterized by political polarization, and especially by increasingly negative affective responses toward opposing party members. To what extent might this be attributed to exposure to information reinforcing individuals' partisan identity versus information representing the views of partisan opponents? And is this a uniquely American phenomenon? This study uses survey data collected immediately following recent national elections in two countries, the United States and Israel, to address these questions. Results across the two nations are generally consistent, and indicate that pro- and counterattitudinal information exposure has distinct influences on perceptions of and attitudes toward members of opposing parties, despite numerous cross-cultural differences. We discuss implications in light of recent evidence about partisans' tendency to engage in selective exposure.
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Surveys find associations between holding polarized attitudes and reported consumption of like-minded news.
“although surveys find associations between holding polarized attitudes and reported consumption of like-minded news26,27”
From Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing (2023) · cites this paper as [26]
Varios investigadores en ciencia política sostienen que la polarización afectiva refleja ese proceso en un estado de hiperactividad.
“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 Garrett et al., 2014
Exposure to out-party news sources intensifies polarization.
“For instance, Garrett et al. (74) found survey evidence suggesting that exposure to out-party news sources will in fact intensify polarization.”
From How digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting (2022) · cites this paper as [74]
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“Affective polarization, as operationalized by Iyengar et al. (2012), has at least two dimensions: favorability and social distance.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialRed Media, Blue Media: Evidence of Ideological Selectivity in Media Use
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“And consistent with earlier work on cross pressures (e.g., Mutz, 2002, 2006), more contact with opponents tends to lead to more moderate views.”
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The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States
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The Hostile Audience: The Effect of Access to Broadband Internet on Partisan Affect
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A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy
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Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing
Nyhan, B., Settle, J., Thorson, E., Wojcieszak, M., Barberá, P., Chen, A. Y., Allcott, H., Brown, T., Crespo-Tenorio, A., Dimmery, D., et al. (2023) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06297-w · Cited by 333 · see citing works
How digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting
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“(74) found survey evidence suggesting that exposure to out-party news sources will in fact intensify polarization.”
BackgroundReducing affective polarization: Warm group relations or policy compromise?
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Bountouridis, D., Harambam, J., Makhortykh, M., Marrero, M., Tintarev, N., & Hauff, C. (2019) · Proceedings of the Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency · doi:10.1145/3287560.3287583 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
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Are there still limits on partisan prejudice?
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Política, uso de medios y polarización afectiva en España
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El estudio de la polarización afectiva: una mirada metodológica
Freidin, E., Moro, R., & Silenzi, M. I. (2022) · REVISTA SAAP · doi:10.46468/rsaap.16.1.a2 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
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“Up until now, studies focusing on the situation in the United States have contributed significantly to the body of knowledge about affective polarization (e.g., Iyengar et al., 2012, 2019; Garrett et al., 2014; Iyengar and Westwood, 2015; Mason, 2015, 2016; Rogowski and Sutherland, 2016; Druckman and Levendusky, 2019;…”
BackgroundInfluentialWojcieszak et al No Polarization from Partisan News IJPP Forthcoming
Wojcieszak, M., de Leeuw, S. E., Menchen-Trevino, E., Lee, S., Huang-Isherwood, K. M., & Weeks, B. (2021) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/hqmuy · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Cuéllar Rivero, R. (2024) · Revista Española de Ciencia Política · doi:10.21308/recp.64.07 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures
Druckman, J. N., Klar, S., Krupnikov, Y., Levendusky, M., & Ryan, J. B. (2026) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.70152 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Cuéllar Rivero, R. (2026) · Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas · doi:10.5477/cis/reis.194.25-44
“En primer lugar, la literatura previa indica que los efectos de la expo-sición selectiva en la polarización afectiva pueden ser pequeños (Kelly et al. , 2014; Padró-Solanet y Balcells, 2022) o nulos (Wojcieszak et al. , 2021, 2022).”
- Authors
- Garrett, R. K., Gvirsman, S. D., Johnson, B. K., Tsfati, Y., Neo, R., & Dal, A.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- School of Communication; Netanya Academic College; Israel
- University of Haifa (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Garrett, R. Kelly
- Venue
- Human Communication Research
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-05-06
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 309-332
- ISSN
- 0360-3989 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1576184215
- Cited by
- 351
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 75.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Human Communication Research (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (IIS-1149599)
- Israeli Ministry of Science (3-8784.)
- 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
- affective polarization, political polarization, partisan identity, selective exposure, cross-cultural comparison, United States, Israel
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