TY - JOUR
T1 - Ideological identity, issue-based ideology and bipolar affective polarization in multiparty systems
T2 - The cases of Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal and Spain
AU - Comellas Bonsfills, Josep Maria
AU - Torcal, Mariano
N1 - Funding
The research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project reference: PID2019-106867RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), the BBVA Foundation (Grants for Scientific Research Teams in Economy and Digital Society 2019) and the European Union-NextGenerationEU / Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan / UPF complementary call for requalification - Margarita Salas Grants. Mariano Torcal wants to thank the ICREA-ACADEMIA Intense Research Award for the additional funding.
Acknowledgments
We are very thankful to Laia Balcells for inviting us to present a preliminary version of this paper at a panel on polarization at the CES International Conference of Europeanists in 2022, as well as to Markus Wagner for his excellent comments and suggestion as a discussant on the paper. We are also especially grateful to Eelco Harteveld and Luana Russo for giving us the opportunity to participate in this special issue on affective polarization. Finally, we would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - In multiparty contexts, we know that affective polarization tends to cluster in ideological blocs, although the factors driving this process are still quite unexplored. In this paper, we contribute to filling this gap in the literature by exploring the capacity of ideological identity vis-à-vis issue-based ideology to polarize sentiments towards party voters into two opposing left-right blocs. Specifically, we provide empirical evidence that affective attachments to ideological labels increase the affective distance between ideological blocs to a greater extent than issue extremity and issue consistency. These bipolarizing effects of ideological identity persist even when the identity is inconsistent with issue-based ideology. Additionally, we show that bipolar affective polarization exerts little reverse influence on ideological identity. We support these arguments using an original survey from the TRI-POL project carried out in five multiparty systems: Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
AB - In multiparty contexts, we know that affective polarization tends to cluster in ideological blocs, although the factors driving this process are still quite unexplored. In this paper, we contribute to filling this gap in the literature by exploring the capacity of ideological identity vis-à-vis issue-based ideology to polarize sentiments towards party voters into two opposing left-right blocs. Specifically, we provide empirical evidence that affective attachments to ideological labels increase the affective distance between ideological blocs to a greater extent than issue extremity and issue consistency. These bipolarizing effects of ideological identity persist even when the identity is inconsistent with issue-based ideology. Additionally, we show that bipolar affective polarization exerts little reverse influence on ideological identity. We support these arguments using an original survey from the TRI-POL project carried out in five multiparty systems: Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
KW - Affective polarization
KW - Ideological identity
KW - Issue-based ideology
KW - Southern Europe
KW - Latin America
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151782917&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/f21f544a-569a-3086-ab71-3046493b3476/
U2 - 10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102615
DO - 10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102615
M3 - Article
SN - 0261-3794
VL - 83
JO - Electoral Studies
JF - Electoral Studies
M1 - 102615
ER -