Abstract
Two studies (one preregistered) of Americans (N = 2200) drawn from a nationally representative panel show that both Democrats and Republicans personally value core democratic characteristics, such as free and fair elections, but severely underestimate opposing party members’ support for those same characteristics. Democrats estimate that the average Democrat values democratic characteristics 56% (in Study 1) and 77% (in Study 2) more than the average Republican. In a mirror image, Republicans estimate that the average Republican values democratic characteristics 82% (in Study 1) and 88% (in Study 2) more than the average Democrat. In turn, the tendency to believe that political ingroup members value democratic characteristics more than political outgroup members is associated with support for anti-democratic practices, especially among Republicans. Results suggest biased and inaccurate intergroup perceptions may contribute to democratic erosion in the United States.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 16284 |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 29 Sept 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Dec 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:All authors designed the research. MHP and SLMB conducted the studies. M.H.P. analyzed the data. M.H.P. and L.O.A.K. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, while S.L.M.B. and A.L.V. provided critical revisions. M.H.P. acknowledges funding from Beyond Conflict and from the Research Open Access Article Publishing Fund of the University of Illinois Chicago, which provided financial support toward the open access publishing fee for this article. S.L.M.B. acknowledges funding from the Charles Koch Foundation. We thank Dr. Joshua Pasek, Hannah Baron, and Michelle Barsa for insights on this work. We thank the participants at Brown University’s Comparative Politics Workshop, Brown University’s American Politics Graduate Student Workshop, and members of the Beyond Conflict team for helpful comments. We thank Roman Gallardo for his assistance with study programming.
Funding Information:
All authors designed the research. MHP and SLMB conducted the studies. M.H.P. analyzed the data. M.H.P. and L.O.A.K. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, while S.L.M.B. and A.L.V. provided critical revisions. M.H.P. acknowledges funding from Beyond Conflict and from the Research Open Access Article Publishing Fund of the University of Illinois Chicago, which provided financial support toward the open access publishing fee for this article. S.L.M.B. acknowledges funding from the Charles Koch Foundation. We thank Dr. Joshua Pasek, Hannah Baron, and Michelle Barsa for insights on this work. We thank the participants at Brown University’s Comparative Politics Workshop, Brown University’s American Politics Graduate Student Workshop, and members of the Beyond Conflict team for helpful comments. We thank Roman Gallardo for his assistance with study programming.
Funding
All authors designed the research. MHP and SLMB conducted the studies. M.H.P. analyzed the data. M.H.P. and L.O.A.K. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, while S.L.M.B. and A.L.V. provided critical revisions. M.H.P. acknowledges funding from Beyond Conflict and from the Research Open Access Article Publishing Fund of the University of Illinois Chicago, which provided financial support toward the open access publishing fee for this article. S.L.M.B. acknowledges funding from the Charles Koch Foundation. We thank Dr. Joshua Pasek, Hannah Baron, and Michelle Barsa for insights on this work. We thank the participants at Brown University’s Comparative Politics Workshop, Brown University’s American Politics Graduate Student Workshop, and members of the Beyond Conflict team for helpful comments. We thank Roman Gallardo for his assistance with study programming. All authors designed the research. MHP and SLMB conducted the studies. M.H.P. analyzed the data. M.H.P. and L.O.A.K. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, while S.L.M.B. and A.L.V. provided critical revisions. M.H.P. acknowledges funding from Beyond Conflict and from the Research Open Access Article Publishing Fund of the University of Illinois Chicago, which provided financial support toward the open access publishing fee for this article. S.L.M.B. acknowledges funding from the Charles Koch Foundation. We thank Dr. Joshua Pasek, Hannah Baron, and Michelle Barsa for insights on this work. We thank the participants at Brown University’s Comparative Politics Workshop, Brown University’s American Politics Graduate Student Workshop, and members of the Beyond Conflict team for helpful comments. We thank Roman Gallardo for his assistance with study programming.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General