"They Just Don't Get Us": Felt Understanding as a Driver of Affective Polarization and Avoidance Behavior

This paper addresses the pressing issue of affective polarization and political homophily in contemporary democracies, focusing on animosity and avoidance behavior between supporters of different political parties. Prior research has identified partisan meta-perceptions as a potential source of partisan animosity. Building on this work, this paper argues that the concept of felt understanding is a likely driver of affective polarization, partisan animosity, and avoidance behavior. Felt understanding is defined as the belief that out-party supporters understand and accept the values, motives and intentions, as well as the lifestyle of in-party supporters, recognizing the subjective importance of their beliefs without necessarily agreeing with them. I expect that people will have higher levels of out-partisan animosity and social distance if they perceive in-party supporters as misunderstood by out-party supporters. This paper uses two sources of data. First, original cross-sectional survey data from 12 countries is used to examine the prevalence of the perception that in-party supporters are misunderstood and how this correlates with key outcomes. Second, a conjoint experiment assesses the causal effect of felt understanding on affective evaluations and action tendencies. Through the simultaneous manipulation of felt understanding and meta-perceptions, the experiment aims to demonstrate the distinct nature of these two concepts. This project contributes to the ongoing research on partisan conflict by shedding light on the role of felt understanding in shaping inter-group dynamics. The findings can inform targeted countermeasures to mitigate affective polarization and prevent further escalation of partisan animosity.