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Why Do Partisan Media Polarize Viewers?

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  • Matthew S. Levendusky

Abstract

The recent increase in partisan media has generated interest in whether such outlets polarize viewers. I draw on theories of motivated reasoning to explain why partisan media polarize viewers, why these programs affect some viewers much more strongly than others, and how long these effects endure. Using a series of original experiments, I find strong support for my theoretical expectations, including the argument that these effects can still be detected several days postexposure. My results demonstrate that partisan media polarize the electorate by taking relatively extreme citizens and making them even more extreme. Though only a narrow segment of the public watches partisan media programs, partisan media's effects extend much more broadly throughout the political arena.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew S. Levendusky, 2013. "Why Do Partisan Media Polarize Viewers?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 611-623, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:57:y:2013:i:3:p:611-623
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12008
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    1. Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2021. "Social media, sentiment and public opinions: Evidence from #Brexit and #USElection," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    2. Seong Choul Hong, 2020. "Presumed Effects of “Fake News” on the Global Warming Discussion in a Cross-Cultural Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Adam Lovett, 2023. "The ethics of asymmetric politics," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 22(1), pages 3-30, February.
    4. Thiemo Fetzer & Carlo Schwarz, 2021. "Tariffs and Politics: Evidence from Trump’s Trade Wars," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(636), pages 1717-1741.
    5. Marijn Keijzer & Michael Mäs & Andreas Flache, 2024. "Polarization on Social Media: Micro-Level Evidence and Macro-Level Implications," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 27(1), pages 1-7.
    6. David Autor & David Dorn & Gordon Hanson & Kaveh Majlesi, 2020. "Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(10), pages 3139-3183, October.
    7. Su-Min & Alexandru, 2022. "Do Labels Polarise? Theory and Evidence from the Brexit Referendum," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2227, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    8. Dagostino, Ramona & Gao, Janet & Ma, Pengfei, 2023. "Partisanship in loan pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(3).
    9. Sendhil Mullainathan & Andrei Shleifer, 2005. "The Market for News," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1031-1053, September.
    10. Caroline Le Pennec & Vincent Pons, 2023. "How do Campaigns Shape Vote Choice? Multicountry Evidence from 62 Elections and 56 TV Debates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 703-767.
    11. Ashani Amarasinghe & Paul A. Raschky, 2022. "Competing for Attention – The Effect of Talk Radio on Elections and Political Polarization in the US," Monash Economics Working Papers 2022-13, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    12. Jacob R. Brown & Enrico Cantoni & Ryan D. Enos & Vincent Pons & Emilie Sartre, 2023. "The increase in partisan segregation in the United States," Discussion Papers 2023-09, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    13. Koorank Beheshti, Mohammadali & Gopinath, Mahesh & Ashouri, Sama & Zal, Saeed, 2023. "Does polarizing personality matter in influencer marketing? Evidence from Instagram," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    14. Michael Thaler, 2024. "The Fake News Effect: Experimentally Identifying Motivated Reasoning Using Trust in News," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 1-38, May.
    15. Schroeder, Elizabeth & Stone, Daniel F., 2015. "Fox News and political knowledge," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 52-63.
    16. Salvatore Barbaro, 2021. "A social-choice perspective on authoritarianism and political polarization," Working Papers 2108, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    17. Iandoli, Luca & Primario, Simonetta & Zollo, Giuseppe, 2021. "The impact of group polarization on the quality of online debate in social media: A systematic literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    18. Giang T. C. Tran & Luong Vuong Nguyen & Jason J. Jung & Jeonghun Han, 2022. "Understanding Political Polarization Based on User Activity: A Case Study in Korean Political YouTube Channels," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    19. María Luisa Humanes & Lidia Valera-Ordaz, 2023. "Partisanship, Ideology, and Selective Exposure: A Longitudinal Analysis of Media Consumption in Spain (2008–2019)," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 113-126.
    20. A. Arda Gitmez & Pooya Molavi, 2022. "Informational Autocrats, Diverse Societies," Papers 2203.12698, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    21. Bowen, T. Renee & Galperti, Simone & Dmitriev, Danil, 2021. "Learning from Shared News: When Abundant Information Leads to Belief Polarization," CEPR Discussion Papers 15789, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    22. Alrababah, Ala & Casalis, Marine & Masterson, Daniel & Hangartner, Dominik & Wehrli, & Weinstein, Jeremy, 2023. "Reducing Attrition in Phone-based Panel Surveys: A Web Application to Facilitate Best Practices and Semi-Automate Survey Workflow," OSF Preprints gyz3h, Center for Open Science.
    23. Fabio Motoki & Valdemar Pinho Neto & Victor Rodrigues, 2024. "More human than human: measuring ChatGPT political bias," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(1), pages 3-23, January.
    24. Jeanne Hagenbach & Nicolas Jacquemet & Philipp Sternal, 2024. "The motivated memory of noise," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 24010, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.

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