Affective Personality Polarization: Evidence from Elites and the Mass Public

• In Event: What Is Affective Polarization and How Should We Measure It?

Abstract

Affective polarization has been on the rise in recent decades, having dramatic consequences for everyday citizens' willingness and ability to work together. While this phenomenon has been studied largely in the mass public, it is undoubtedly raging in full force among political elites. Though most studies of affective polarization focus on in- vs. out-partisan thermometer ratings, other work has found similar results using behavioral games and implicit association tests. At the same time, recent work on personality traits in both psychology and political science has shown that the so-called Big Five model is a significant predictor of how voters make up their minds and what politicians do once in office. In this paper we bridge these literatures. Using data from an original survey of former U.S. Congressmembers and four election cycles' work of Cooperative Election Survey data at the mass level, we demonstrate that there is a significant in- vs.~out-party bias in personality assessments of elected officials among both elites and the mass public. Importantly, these findings are at least as large and sometimes significantly larger in magnitude to levels of bias in perception of elites' ideology extremism.

Authors

• Adam Ramey, New York University Abu Dhabi

• Jonathan D. Klingler, University of Mississippi

• Gary E. Hollibaugh, University of Pittsburgh