Partisans massively overestimate disliked traits in the opposing party
Evidence
Since partisans falsely believe that the characteristics they tend to dislike are very prevalent in the outgroup (for example, Republicans believe that 30% of Democrats are atheist/agnostic, and Democrats believe that 38% of Republicans earn over $250,000, when in reality these figures are 8% and 2%, respectively)14, animosity can also be reduced by correcting these misperceptions. — Rachel Hartman et al., Interventions to Reduce Partisan…, 32
Categorization
- XREF: Concrete misperception data that pairs directly with the reading purpose: benchmarks the 2025 PNAS depolarization-is-hard finding against actual magnitudes here. — connects to: Partisans hold systematic misperceptions that exaggerate their opponents’ extremism and hostility. — Rachel Hartman et al., Interventions to Reduce Partisan…, 30; Partisans across many countries exaggerate outgroup hostility toward their ingroup — Rachel Hartman et al., Interventions to Reduce Partisan…, 75; Hostility toward rivals is expressed by attributing unrecognisable, repulsive opinions to them — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1493 (+4 more)
- CANDY: The 38% vs 2% income gap and 30% vs 8% atheist gap are striking, tweetable numbers.
Broader Connections
- Partisans across many countries exaggerate outgroup hostility toward their ingroup
#corroborates(0.95) — Rachel Hartman et al., Interventions to Reduce Partisan…, 75 - Hostility toward rivals is expressed by attributing unrecognisable, repulsive opinions to them
#expands(0.82) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1493 - Prejudiced individuals misattribute their dislike to group attributes rather than vice versa.
#complicates(0.76) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 841 - Group dislike generates stereotypic beliefs, not the reverse
#qualifies(0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 841 - Partisan polarization now extends to social life and fear of the other party
#qualifies(0.74) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 229 - Extreme ideological groups invert the usual in-group-favoritism basis of intergroup bias.
#qualifies(0.73)