{"id":4652,"date":"2019-10-03T22:33:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T22:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/?p=4652"},"modified":"2019-10-03T22:33:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T22:33:06","slug":"why-partisans-look-at-the-same-evidence-on-ukraine-and-see-wildly-different-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/03\/why-partisans-look-at-the-same-evidence-on-ukraine-and-see-wildly-different-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Partisans Look At The Same Evidence On Ukraine And See Wildly Different Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

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But while those things matter, Vivyan told me, it\u2019s partisanship that is \u201cthe most obvious and often the most salient\u201d factor at play. \u201cPartisanship is the biggest predictor we have,\u201d he said, of whether someone who looks at a set of facts will see an im\ud83c\udf51ment waiting to happen or just so much rotten fruit.<\/p>\n

And that effect has grown over time in the United States, as partisans of both parties dislike one another more and have stronger negative emotional reactions to the other side, said Eva Anduiza, professor of political science at Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona. This \u201caffective polarization\u201d is something that\u2019s been measured by the American National Election Study\u2019s \u201cfeelings thermometer\u201d since the late 1970s. The survey asks respondents to rate their feelings about \u201cDemocrats\u201d and \u201cRepublicans\u201d on a 100-point scale and then compares how people rate the party they identify with vs. the one they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Since 1980, <\/span>our average feelings about \u201cthe other guys\u201d have become significantly chilly<\/a> <\/span>\u2014 falling from around 50 to around 25 points on the 100-point scale. In fact, almost all the significant increase in affective polarization is due to an increased dislike of the other side and not, say, an increased preference for your own side.<\/p>\n

That kind of emotional partisanship matters for scandals because it increases the likelihood of motivated reasoning \u2014 basically upping our tendency to not want to hear things that contradict our previously held beliefs. In the case of politics, that means finding reasons why the other side\u2019s scandals are a very big deal and\/or finding reasons why our own preferred party\u2019s scandals are not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why Partisans Look At The Same Evidence On Ukraine And See Wildly Different Things<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n