Polarization and Partisan Norms

American politics feels more divisive than ever. Partisan animosity is rising as political factions seem to be constructing their own separate social and informational realities. One theory is that polarization stems from diverging identity-based partisan norms – shared expectations about what co-partisans ought to believe and do and where they ought to get their information. Political economist Erik Kimbrough and political scientist Eric Groenendyk will examine partisan norms before and after the 2024 presidential election. They will also assess the extent to which priming partisan norms influences opinions, beliefs, and behaviors. They will conduct a panel survey with embedded experiments for their study.