Partisan Animosity in the U.S. Is Less Pronounced Than It Seems

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

Abstract

Evidence of partisan animosity—and even vitriol—seem to be ubiquitous. The Los Angeles Times recently reported on a study by Wintemute et. al. (2022) that found “roughly 5 million Americans would be willing to kill someone to achieve a political purpose.” Kalmoe and Mason (2022) estimate the percent of Americans willing to support political violence to be between 8 and 40 percent. Westwood et. al. (2022) argue the number willing to support political violence is closer to 3 percent. While even a tiny number engaging in political violence can do massive harm to property, lives, and democratic norms, understanding the scope of support for such violence is important. We argue that prior research has, for the most part, overestimated political animosity by failing to measure willingness to engage in pro-social behaviors with the other party. To test our hypothesis we developed a partisan pro-social battery of survey questions for the 2022 Collaborative Midterm Survey. These questions asked about willingness to engage in a variety of pro-social activities (encourage your child to play with another child, help someone with a flat tire, donate to a former classmate’s healthcare needs, or call 911) and varied whether the person benefiting from the activity was a Democrat or Republican. This allowed us to test whether pro-social behavior differs if someone shares or does not share the same partisan identification as the person they might help. In all cases, willingness to engage in pro-social behavior was overwhelming and differences between in-party and out-party help were tiny (1 to 5 percentage points different). Of course, these are survey responses and not actual behaviors, but the same is true for the studies of willingness to support political violence that are provided as examples of extreme partisan division within the United States. These findings suggest that for nearly all Americans, willingness to interact with and help others is not appreciably influenced by partisan considerations.

Authors

• Peter Enns, Cornell University

• Jonathon P. Schuldt, Cornell University

• Colleen L. Barry, Johns Hopkins University