‘Strong contrasts between voters are also called affective polarisation,’ says Linda Bos, associate professor of Political Communication and Journalism. ‘The stronger this form of polarisation, the more negative supporters of one party are towards supporters of the other party. We see that this form of polarisation occurs more often in the United States (U.S.) than in Europe.’

Being one with a party

A major role is played by so-called party identification, which is quite strong in the U.S. Bos: ‘This is not just about political beliefs – it is a personal and emotional feeling. For example, it goes so far that you perceive criticism of “your” party as a personal insult, or that you even look down on voters of the other party. Research in the U.S., for example, shows that voters sometimes prefer not to have contact with supporters of the other party. Party identification can even influence who you become friends with or date.’

As a CDA or VVD voter, you have no clear “opponent”

This form of polarization between voters is greater in the US than in an average European country. There are two important explanations for this: the electoral system and the media landscape.
Patrick van Erkel, associate professor of Political Communication and Journalism on the electoral system: ‘Many European countries have a multi-party system, with parties that are usually not very different from each other in ideological terms. If you vote for the CDA or the VVD as a Dutch person, you do not have a clear “opponent” like in the US, where you actually only have two choices: the Democrats or the Republicans. Party identification is therefore much less strong in European countries.’

No authoritative public broadcaster

But even in the United Kingdom, which like the US has a two-party system, the divide between voters is not that great. That has everything to do with the second explanation: the media landscape. The United Kingdom has the BBC, an authoritative public broadcaster that provides news that is seen as independent and reliable by both Labour and Conservative supporters.

Van Erkel: ‘The US does not have a real public broadcaster; the media in America are strongly coloured by political ideas and party preferences. For example, there are the very conservative media that mainly support the Republicans, think of Fox News or more recently Breitbart, and the more liberal media that support the Democrats, like MSNBC. That makes it easier for citizens to only follow media that support their positions. And that in turn results in more extreme positions, a stronger party identity and therefore more negative feelings towards “the other party”.’

A fairytale marriage between a Democrat and a Republican does not seem to be in the cards for the time being.