“In the media, women politicians are often stereotyped as consensus building and willing to work across party lines,” said study author Heather Louise Ondercin (@HeatherOndercin), an assistant professor at Appalachian State University.
“This portrayal of women did not match what we know about women’s political behavior, mainly that they hold stronger partisan attachments than men.
We wanted to figure out how women’s political identities and issue positions shaped their feelings towards the parties compared to men.”.
Women hold stronger partisan identities than men, and the strength of these partisan identities matters more for women than men.
We find that women’s higher levels of affective polarization are partially a result of women holding stronger partisan identities.
More work needs to be done to understand what role pro-social behavior plays in the formation and strength of partisan identities,” Ondercin said.
The study, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling: How Gender Shapes Affective Polarization“, Heather Louise Ondercin and Mary Kate Lizotte. »