Partisan Linked Fate in American Politics

• In Event: Identity's Role within Partisanship

Abstract

Is your fate linked to that of your co-partisans? We argue that Americans express partisan linked fate -- the notion that the life outcomes of a respondent's co-partisans throughout the country will have implications for a respondent's own life. Using four distinct, nationally-representative surveys of approximately 6,000 people, we find that over 75% of Americans express this sentiment. We then benchmark the expression of partisan linked fate with racial, gender, and age-based forms of linked fate. Next, we show that "strong partisans” are most likely to express partisan linked fate. We then document how partisan linked fate is related to various measures of political behavior and public opinion. Collectively, our study introduces, validates, and documents the importance of a new measure of American partisanship.

Authors

• Steven W. Webster, Indiana University

• Betsy Sinclair, Washington University in St. Louis