The (Political) Show Must Go On: The Effects of Political Media and Family Relationships on Affective Polarization

Abstract

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Given the importance of both family and partisanship in identity formation, these two may be at odds for those in cross-partisan families. Within these households, exposure to cross-partisan media is inevitable, serving to prime partisan identity and even acting as a catalyst for partisan conflict. Although much work has investigated the role of media in affective polarization, and the role of family in partisanship, little work bridges the two. Therefore, this post-test-only experiment (N = 411) investigates the role of family in the relationship between outgroup attack-focused partisan media exposure and affective polarization.

Keywords

affective polarization family selective exposure social identity intergroup talk shows political talk shows mediated intergroup contact

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