Political Polarization: An International Comparison
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Political polarization has increased in the United States (Finkel et al., 2020). Furthermore, research on political party perceptions has demonstrated that both Democrats and Republicans believe that political parties approve of extreme group members more than moderate members (Kulibert et al., 2024). The goal of the current research was to expand on U.S. research and understand perceptions of political parties in Germany and Nigeria. For the Germany sample, participants read about either a moderate member or an extreme member of a political party and were asked if the party would approve of the member. Unlike in the United States, people did not think German political parties would approve of extreme members more than moderate members (p > .05). Similar methods were deployed for the Nigeria sample, with participants reading about either a moderate or extreme political member. Again, unlike in the United States, people did not think Nigerian political parties would approve of extreme members more than moderate members (p > .05). Overall, these results suggest that political polarization may not impact perceptions of political groups outside of the United States in the same way that it does within the United States.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Danica Kulibert
Political Polarization: An International Comparison
Political polarization has increased in the United States (Finkel et al., 2020). Furthermore, research on political party perceptions has demonstrated that both Democrats and Republicans believe that political parties approve of extreme group members more than moderate members (Kulibert et al., 2024). The goal of the current research was to expand on U.S. research and understand perceptions of political parties in Germany and Nigeria. For the Germany sample, participants read about either a moderate member or an extreme member of a political party and were asked if the party would approve of the member. Unlike in the United States, people did not think German political parties would approve of extreme members more than moderate members (p > .05). Similar methods were deployed for the Nigeria sample, with participants reading about either a moderate or extreme political member. Again, unlike in the United States, people did not think Nigerian political parties would approve of extreme members more than moderate members (p > .05). Overall, these results suggest that political polarization may not impact perceptions of political groups outside of the United States in the same way that it does within the United States.