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Our Common Bonds: Using What Americans Share to Help Bridge the Partisan Divide

Online ISBN:
9780226824697
Print ISBN:
9780226824680
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press
Book

Our Common Bonds: Using What Americans Share to Help Bridge the Partisan Divide

Matthew Levendusky
Matthew Levendusky
University of Pennsylvania
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Published online:
21 September 2023
Published in print:
3 April 2023
Online ISBN:
9780226824697
Print ISBN:
9780226824680
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press

Abstract

Americans today seem to be more divided than ever before. It is not simply that they disagree on abortion, gun control, and other issues, but they increasingly dislike and distrust those from the other political party, a phenomenon known as affective polarization, which has numerous damaging effects. Can we ameliorate this animus and lower the temperature of our politics? I argue that we can, and this book outlines a set of strategies to accomplish this goal. Affective polarization stems, in part, from the significant misperceptions partisans hold about those from the other political party. I argue that by correcting these misperceptions—especially about how much Democrats and Republicans actually have in common—animus will abate. To do that, I highlight the common bonds that Democrats and Republicans share across the partisan divide. In particular, this book focuses on three such techniques: a set of shared identities, a set of cross-party friendships, and a set of shared issue positions and values identified through civil cross-party dialogue. Using a variety of different survey and experimental evidence, I show that each of these strategies works to lessen affective polarization. I also show that there are downstream consequences of reducing partisan animosity, including lessening ideological polarization. The book concludes by discussing what these findings mean both for political science theory, as well as for real-world efforts to reduce partisan hostilities.

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