Toward a Comparative Research Agenda on Affective Polarization in Mass Publics

Abstract

While affective polarization has attracted academic and public interest, nearly all we know about this topic is based on the well-developed American literature. As Iyenger et al. (2019) note in a recent literature review, “more work is needed to build bridges between Americanists and comparativists” interested in affective polarization. This note is one step in this direction. We address two issues. First, we report descriptive statistics based on analyses of survey data from twenty western democracies, which suggest that affective polarization in the United States is not especially intense compared to other Western polities. This finding may be welcomed by Americans (who may be glad that they are not extremely affectively polarized in comparative perspective), while it may dismay citizens of many other western democracies (who may be disappointed that they are as intensely polarized as the US). In either case we find this comparison instructive. Second, and related, we argue for the advantages of analyzing American affective polarization within a comparative context.