Opinion Formation and Political Polarization

Abstract

·Public opinion is essential for democratic societies, but social media changes how opinion is formed. ·Affective polarization – the phenomenon that individuals develop strong emotional attachments to their own political group and strong dislike and bias toward political outgroups – is growing in many democratic societies. ·Affective polarization may make individuals more susceptible to believe in and share political misinformation, suggesting that this type of polarization may be detrimental for information processing and information sharing in democratic societies. ·Another potential consequence of affective polarization is that it may influence what political opinions individuals take on various issues, and that it may increase ideological polarization in the electorate, for example on issues like climate chang