Misperceptions Data

Affective polarization in the United States has surged, threatening to split civil society into warring camps. Engaging in dialogue across difference appears to attenuate such polarization. We are caught, however, in a vicious cycle: partisan sorting and the perceived cost of dialogue with those we have come to dislike has elevated resistance to cross-cutting political discussions. The situation might not be so dire, however, if such hesitancy is based on misperceptions of potential interlocutors from the other party. I test whether necessary political discussions may be avoided or otherwise ill-fated because of outpartisan misperceptions. I find Americans overwhelmingly overestimate the discursive intransigence of their fellow citizens and that experimental correction of these outpartisan overestimations shrinks the partisan gap in affective evaluations and discussion comfort. That is, resistance to interparty interaction is not necessarily a rejection of disagreement but of the disagreeableness often magnified in popular media.