Negative and Positive Partisan Identity in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections

• In Event: The Psychology of Partisanship

Abstract

Political scientists’ interest in negative partisan identity has been refueled in the context of affective polarization, which demonstrates increasing outparty hostility among voters in the U.S. two-party system. While some researchers haven used negative partisanship as a predictor of the vote, questions regarding the adequate measurement of this relatively novel concept remain unexplored. Moreover, these measurement issues have made it difficult to disentangle the effects of positive and negative partisan identity on political behavior. This project tries to address these gaps in the literature in several ways. First, using a nationally representative sample, I design and examine the measurement properties of a multi-item scale that measures negative partisan identity among Americans. I show that this new scale has better measurement qualities than the two-item scale that has conventionally been used to assess negative partisanship. Second, using latent variable models, I demonstrate that – while a majority of Americans display aspects of both negative and positive partisan identity – the two are distinct constructs. Third, I compare the power of both types of partisan identity in predicting turnout, vote choice, and other forms of political participation before and after the 2016 presidential elections in the United States. Results indicate that for a substantial share of the American electorate, political engagement is driven by their disdain for the outparty rather than their strong attachment to the inparty.

Author

• Alexa Bankert, University of Georgia