This article provides a systematic review of the literature on affective polarization, emphasizing its emotional, identity-based, and systemic dimensions across diverse political contexts. It examines the current state of research, revealing the phenomenon’s manifestations in both multiparty and two-party systems, and highlights key drivers such as identity dynamics, moral conviction, and media influences. The article identifies significant gaps in conceptual clarity and mitigation strategies, particularly concerning entrenched partisanship. Through the synthesis of various methodological approaches and the provision of a comparative perspective, this work emphasizes the implications of affective polarization on social trust, democratic governance, and political stability, thereby offering actionable insights for scholars and policymakers.
AdamsJ.BrackenD.GidronN.HorneW.O’BrienD. Z.SenkK. (2023). Can’t we all just get along? How women MPs can ameliorate affective polarization in Western publics. American Political Science Review, 117(1), 318-324. [Abstr. 73.4700]
2.
BäckH.CarrollR.RenströmE.RyanA. (2023). Elite communication and affective polarization among voters. Electoral Studies, 84, 102639. [Abstr. 74.467]
3.
BallardA. O.DeTambleR.DorseyS.HeseltineM.JohnsonM. (2023). Dynamics of polarizing rhetoric in congressional tweets. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 48(1), 105-144. [Abstr. 73.3169]
4.
BantelI. (2023). Camps, not just parties. The dynamic foundations of affective polarization in multi-party systems. Electoral Studies, 83, 102614. [Abstr. 73.6180]
5.
Bassan-NygateL.WeissC. M. (2022). Party competition and cooperation shape affective polarization: Evidence from natural and survey experiments in Israel. Comparative Political Studies, 55(2), 287-318. [Abstr. 72.3384]
6.
BettarelliL.ReiljanA.Van HauteE. (2023). A regional perspective to the study of affective polarization. European Journal of Political Research, 62(2), 645-659. [Abstr. 73.6203]
7.
BorbáthE.HutterS.LeiningerA. (2023). Cleavage politics, polarisation, and participation in Western Europe. West European Politics, 46(4), 631-651. [Abstr. 73.3346]
8.
BosilkovI. (2023). Too incivil to polarize: The effects of exposure to mediatized interparty violence on affective polarization. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 33(3), 441-461. [Abstr. 74.516]
9.
BramC. (2023). The most important election of our lifetime: Focalism and political participation. Political Psychology, 44(5), 943-960. [Abstr. 74.520]
10.
BroockmanD. E.KallaJ. L.WestwoodS. J. (2023). Does affective polarization undermine democratic norms or accountability? Maybe not. American Journal of Political Science, 67(3), 808-828. [Abstr. 74.527]
11.
CarminesE.NassarR. (2022). Comparing stereotypes across racial and partisan lines: A study in affective polarisation. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 32(3), 727-738. [Abstr. 72.7330]
12.
CasasA.Menchen-TrevinoE.WojcieszakM. (2023). Exposure to extremely partisan news from the other political side shows scarce boomerang effects. Political Behavior, 45(4), 1491-1530. [Abstr. 74.1995]
13.
Comellas BonsfillsJ. M. (2022). When polarised feelings towards parties spread to voters: The role of ideological distance and social sorting in Spain. Electoral Studies, 79, 102525. [Abstr. 73.481]
14.
ComellasJ. M.TorcalM. (2023). Ideological identity, issue-based ideology and bipolar affective polarization in multiparty systems: The cases of Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Electoral Studies, 83, 102615. [Abstr. 73.6244]
15.
DiasN.LelkesY. (2022). The nature of affective polarization: Disentangling policy disagreement from partisan identity. American Journal of Political Science, 66(3), 775-790. [Abstr. 72.7357]
16.
DiermeierD.LiC. (2023). Dynamics of polarization: Affective partisanship and policy divergence. British Journal of Political Science, 53(3), 980-996. [Abstr. 73.6263]
17.
DruckmanJ. N.KlarS.KrupnikovY.LevenduskyM.RyanJ. B. (2022). (Mis)estimating affective polarization. The Journal of Politics, 84(2), 1106-1117. [Abstr. 72.6189]
18.
Garmendia MadariagaA.RieraP. (2022). Territorial polarisation after radical parties’ breakthrough in Spain. South European Society and Politics, 27(1), 51-73. [Abstr. 73.2141]
19.
GidengilE.StolleD.Bergeron-BoutinO. (2022). The partisan nature of support for democratic backsliding: A comparative perspective. European Journal of Political Research, 61(4), 901-929. [Abstr. 73.539]
20.
GidronN.AdamsJ.HorneW. (2023). Who dislikes whom? Affective polarization between pairs of parties in Western democracies. British Journal of Political Science, 53(3), 997-1015. [Abstr. 73.6299]
21.
GidronN.ShefferL.MorG. (2022). The Israel polarization panel dataset, 2019-2021. Electoral Studies, 80, 102512. [Abstr. 73.2148]
22.
Guedes-NetoJ. V. (2023). The effects of political attitudes on affective polarization: Survey evidence from 165 elections. Political Studies Review, 21(2), 238-259. [Abstr. 73.6318]
23.
HassanM.AminE.MansourS.NicklischA. (2023). Did the Arab Spring generate affective polarization? Experimental evidence from five Arab countries. Democratization, 30(4), 569-594. [Abstr. 73.6925]
24.
HarteveldE.WagnerM. (2023). Does affective polarisation increase turnout? Evidence from Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain. West European Politics, 46(4), 732-759. [Abstr. 73.3488]
25.
HarteveldE.MendozaP.RooduijnM. (2022). Affective polarization and the populist radical right: Creating the hating?Government and Opposition, 57(4), 703-727. [Abstr. 73.578]
26.
HetheringtonM. J.RudolphT. J. (2015). Why Washington Won’t Work: Polarization, Political Trust, and the Governing Crisis. (Chicago Studies in American Politics). University of Chicago Press.
27.
JohnstonR. (2023). Affective polarization in the Canadian party system, 1988– 2021. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 56(2), 372-395. [Abstr. 73.6364]
28.
KallaJ. L.BroockmanD. E. (2022). Voter outreach campaigns can reduce affective polarization among implementing political activists: Evidence from inside three campaigns. American Political Science Review, 116(4), 1516-1522. [Abstr. 73.624]
29.
Lorenzo-RodríguezJ.TorcalM. (2023). Twitter and affective polarisation: Following political leaders in Spain. In TorcalM. (ed.), Affective Polarisation in Spain, (pp. 95-121). Routledge.
30.
MarchalN.WatsonD. S. (2022). The paradox of poor representation: How voter– party incongruence curbs affective polarisation. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 24(4), 668-685. [Abstr. 73.682]
31.
MullinixK. J.LythgoeT. (2023). Priming norms to combat affective polarization. Political Research Quarterly, 76(1), 186-199. [Abstr. 73.3600]
32.
MunisB. K.BurkeR. (2023). Talk local to me: Assessing the heterogenous effects of localistic appeals. American Politics Research, 51(5), 655-669. [Abstr. 74.828]
33.
OrhanY. E. (2022). The relationship between affective polarization and democratic backsliding: comparative evidence. Democratization, 29(4), 714-735. [Abstr. 72.6358]
34.
OrrL. V.FowlerA.HuberG. A. (2023). Is affective polarization driven by identity, loyalty, or substance?American Journal of Political Science, 67(4), 948-962. [Abstr. 74.2229]
35.
PiazzaJ. A. (2023). Political polarization and political violence. Security Studies, 32(3), 476-504. [Abstr. 74.2247]
36.
PhillipsJ. (2022). Affective polarization: Over time, through the generations, and during the lifespan. Political Behavior, 44(3), 1483-1508. [Abstr. 73.2301]
37.
ReadH. (2023). When and why to empathize with political opponents. Philosophical Studies, 180(3), 773-793. [Abstr. 73.6463]
38.
RenströmE. A.BäckH.CarrollR. (2023). Threats, emotions, and affective polarization. Political Psychology, 44(6), 1337-1366. [Abstr. 74.3774]
39.
RidgeH. M. (2023). Party system institutionalization, partisan affect, and satisfaction with democracy. Party Politics, 29(6), 1013-1023. [Abstr. 74.3778]
40.
RieraP.MadariagaA. G. (2023). Overlapping polarization: On the contextual determinants of the interplay between ideological and affective polarization. Electoral Studies, 84, 102628. [Abstr. 74.896]
41.
RöllickeL. (2023). Polarisation, identity and affect — Conceptualizing affective polarisation in multi-party systems. Electoral Studies, 85, 102655. [Abstr. 74.901]
42.
SimonsenK. B.BonikowskiB. (2022). Moralizing immigration: Political framing, moral conviction, and polarization in the United States and Denmark. Comparative Political Studies, 55(8), 1403-1436. [Abstr. 72.7567]
43.
ŞaşmazA.YagciA. H.ZiblattD. (2022). How voters respond to presidential assaults on checks and balances: Evidence from a survey experiment in Turkey. Comparative Political Studies, 55(11), 1947–1980. [Abstr. 73.785]
44.
StoetzerL. F.MunzertS.LoweW.ÇalıB.GohdesA. R.HelblingM.MaxwellR.TraunmuellerR. (2023). Affective partisan polarization and moral dilemmas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Political Science Research and Methods, 11(2), 429-436. [Abstr. 73.5998]
45.
TorcalM.ThomsonZ. A. (2023). Social trust and affective polarization in Spain (2014-19). Electoral Studies, 81, 102582. [Abstr. 73.5128]
46.
TorcalM.CartyE. (2023). Partisan sentiments and political trust: A longitudinal study of Spain. In TorcalM. (ed.), Affective Polarisation in Spain, (pp. 167-192). Routledge.
47.
WestE. A.IyengarS. (2022). Partisanship as a social identity: Implications for polarization. Political Behavior, 44(2), 807-838. [Abstr. 72.6450]
48.
WestwoodS. J.PetersonE. (2022). The inseparability of race and partisanship in the United States. Political Behavior, 44(3), 1125-1147. [Abstr. 73.2408]
