Conjoint Analysis of Interpersonal Polarization: Limits of Partisan Bias

• In Event: Partisanship, Polarization, and Ideology in the U.S.

Abstract

Scholarship shows that partisanship can inform individuals’ decisions in areas outside of politics, such as roommate choice, spousal selection, and economic behavior. However, few studies can systematically determine whether these decisions are based on partisanship or if they use partisanship to make inferences about other characteristics relevant to a given social choice. To determine to what extent partisanship informs decisions, we use a conjoint analysis to isolate the impact of partisanship on nonpolitical considerations across three types of social decisions: selecting a spouse to marry, a neighborhood to live in, and a business to frequent. We find that partisanship influences all three social decisions, even while controlling for other salient considerations. Further, we find that the degree to which partisanship matters is similar to and, in some cases, exceeds other relevant considerations. Overall, we show that when individuals make key decisions that affect the trajectory of their life, partisanship is a fundamental consideration.

Authors

• Timea Balogh, University of California, Davis

• Spencer Kiesel, UC Davis

• Sharif Amlani, University of California, Davis