The effect of partisanship and political advertising on close family ties
Open accessAbstract
Curtailed conversations: Most articles written about U.S. politics in the past few years have mentioned the increasing polarization of the electorate. But is this real, or does it merely reflect the increasing polarization of the media? Chen and Rohla estimate that in 2016, Thanksgiving dinners in which the hosts and guests lived in oppositely voting precincts were up to 50 minutes shorter than same-party-precinct dinners. That is, family members, adjured to avoid talking about contentious subjects, may have simply talked less. Science , this issue p. 1020
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Face-to-face interactions within families decrease when there is political disagreement, which is exacerbated by massive political ads campaigns in swing states.
“face-to-face interactions within families decrease when there is political disagreement, which is exacerbated by massive political ads campaigns in swing states41.”
From No echo in the chambers of political interactions on Reddit (2021) · cites this paper as [41]
The paper reports shorter cross-partisan Thanksgiving dinners (p. 1) and a larger reduction in heavily advertised markets, including swing-state markets (p. 4). The claim generalizes from Thanksgiving gatherings to family interactions broadly and presents advertising as the cause, whereas the paper says other campaign activities may also have contributed (p. 4). (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredScholars have demonstrated partisan discrimination on dating websites, family dinners, roommate selection, spousal selection, job hiring, and pay for work.
“In other behavioral approaches, scholars have demonstrated discrimination on dating websites (Huber & Malhotra, 2017), family dinners (Chen & Rohla, 2018), roommate selection (Shafranek, 2021), spousal selection (Iyengar et al., 2018), job hiring (Gift & Gift, 2015), and pay for work (McConnell et al., 2018).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Chen & Rohla, 2018
Americans are averse to cross-partisan dialogue within their families, especially after the 2016 election.
“Behavioral data from smartphone activity confirms that Americans are averse to cross-partisan dialogue within their families, especially in the wake of the 2016 election (Chen & Rohla 2018).”
From The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States (2019) · cites this paper as Chen & Rohla 2018
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Cites
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- Authors
- Chen, M. K., & Rohla, R.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Washington State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, M. Keith
- Rohla, Ryne
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2018-06
- Volume
- 360
- Issue
- 6392
- Pages
- 1020-1024
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2805095169
- Cited by
- 321
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 43 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 58 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 116.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Media Influence and Politics
- Keywords
- political polarization, partisanship, political advertising, family ties, Thanksgiving dinner, 2016 elections, smartphone location data
- MeSH terms
- Advertising, Attitude, Family Characteristics, Humans, Politics, United States
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