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Abstract
Based on social comparison and social identity theory, we argue that average partisans in contemporary U.S. politics view elections as group competitions in which partisan identities are at stake. Using nationally representative survey data, we demonstrate that stronger partisan identities, more than ideological identities or issue preferences, are associated with a greater sense of partisan hostility-specifically, party rivalry and anger. That hostility mediates the impact of partisan identities on political attitudes and actions. As a result, strong partisan identifiers hold the most hostile and uncivil attitudes and are the most likely to participate in elections. Thus, in the context of elections, the behavior of partisans resembles that of sports team members acting to preserve the status of their teams rather than thoughtful citizens participating in the political process for the broader good. We explore the implications of these findings for the current state of American politics.
Keywords
civility, partisan rivalry, partisanship, social comparison theory, social identity theory, U.S. politics
In the modern U.S. political context, politics is bitterly divisive, and partisan disagreement is at its highest level in decades (Mann and Ornstein 2012). Recently, the public has become "socially polarized" between Republicans and Democrats, with members of the two parties increasingly disliking each other (Iyengar, Sood, and Lelkes 2012; Levendusky 2009). And much like in sports, party members are now "driven powerfully by their team spirit"-their party identities (Mason 2015). Yet, although the importance of party identities and the presence of "social polarization" have been established, how they affect partisans during elections has not yet been fully investigated.
Using social identity theory (SIT) and one of its foundations, social comparison theory (SCT), we examine partisan biases during elections. Specifically, we argue that political competition combined with strong party identities intensifies party rivalries and anger toward the opposing party. One deleterious consequence of this partisan hostility is incivility, an often discussed but seldom empirically assessed phenomenon that we demonstrate has a significant impact on campaign behavior and turnout. Current American political behavior research often underplays the social identity aspect of partisanship and has ignored the importance of party rivalries for the political system. Our research addresses these critical gaps by demonstrating how partisan identities and rivalries have concrete behavioral effects on politics.
Party Identification...