The gender gap in the Spanish’s affective polarization

The phenomenon of affective polarization has become in one the most popular issues in the last years (Crespo, et al, 2021). The rise of studies on this problem in the United States is expanding towards Europe where the scholars are beginning to wonder if this phenomenon is happening in the European countries (Wagner, 2020; Reiljan, 2020; Anduiza et al, 2020). Recent research has evidenced a gender gap in affective polarization in the US. (Ondercin & Lizotte, 2021). This gender gap shown a higher level of affective polarization among women than among men. Taking into account, on the one hand, that Spain has been considered one of the most affectively polarized Eurpean democracies in recet years (Orriolls & León, 2020); and, in the other hand, that the gender issues in Spain are nowadays a controversial issue that have unleashed in some cases a kind of cultural and ideological battle. We wonder the following: Do women have higher levels of affective polarization than men also in Spain? In order to answer this question we use the data from the first national affective polarization survey realized by the Murcian Center for Pubic Opinion Studies, in which there are several questions to measure affective polarization.