The Effect of Social Identities on How Americans Understand Partisan Coalitions

• In Event: The Dynamics of New-Style Campaigning

Abstract

In attempting to understand the increasing polarization in the United States, scholars have increasingly focused on the phenomenon of negative partisanship. Specifically, while citizens have not developed more positive views of their own party during the past few decades, they have developed increasingly negative views of the opposing party. What is less clear is what has caused this increase in negative partisanship. One potential explanation focuses on the notion that Americans’ partisan identities now overlap with their other social identities. Specifically, people may increasingly see each party as representing a certain set of social identity groups, perhaps even moreso than they see the parties as representing a set of policy positions. If this is the case, then it becomes easier to view members of the opposing party in a particularly negative light since partisanship becomes wrapped up in other identities that are closely and deeply held by individuals. So far, however, there have been few, if any, empirical tests of this theory. In this paper, I analyze results from a conjoint experiment fielded on a nationally representative sample to examine the extent to which peoples’ views of the partisan coalitions are driven by social identity group representation. Specifically, my analysis will provide a way of unpacking the relative importance of social identity versus ideology on affecting how people understand partisan coalitions in America. This will be a first step toward gaining a better understanding of the causes of negative partisanship in contemporary American politics.

Author

• Brian F. Schaffner, Tufts University