Social Fractionalization of American Parties Causes Negative Partisanship

• In Event: The Influence of Negative Partisanship

Abstract

Social sorting has left the two major parties with more distinct social profiles, leading partisans whose identities match these profiles to feel stronger identification with their party and increased animosity toward the opposition. But how well does the average partisan’s social identity match their party’s profile? Although it may seem counterintuitive, social sorting does not dictate increased homogeneity within parties, so the parties’ increasingly narrow social profiles may actually decrease many partisans’ sense of belonging. Applying a classic comparative politics measure to ANES data, we find that social fractionalization is on the rise within parties, especially among Democrats, and within-party cleavages are moving from cross-cutting to reinforcing. When we experimentally prime these same sources of tension within parties, individuals lacking strong party allegiances do not defect, but instead seem to rally around their hatred of the opposition, helping to explain the rise of negative partisanship.

Authors

• Kirill Zhirkov, University of Virginia

• Eric Groenendyk, Stony Brook University