Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity.

• DOI: 10.17615/vhy6-wz52
• Publication Date: 2023-03-20
• Authors: Jan G. Voelkel; Michael N. Stagnaro; James Y. Chu; Sophia L. Pink; Joseph S. Mernyk; Chrystal Redekopp; Isaias Ghezae; Matthew Cashman; Dhaval Adjodah; Levi G. Allen; L. Victor Allis; Gina Baleria; Nathan Ballantyne; Jay J. Van Bavel; Hayley Blunden; Alia Braley; Christopher J. Bryan; Jared B. Celniker; Mina Cikara; Margarett V. Clapper; Katherine Clayton; Hanne Collins; Evan DeFilippis; Macrina Dieffenbach; Kimberly C. Doell; Charles Dorison; Mylien Duong; Peter Felsman; Maya Fiorella; David Francis; Michael Franz; Roman A. Gallardo; Sara Gifford; Daniela Goya-Tocc...; Kurt Gray; Joe Green; Joshua Greene; Mertcan Güngör; Matthew Hall; Cameron A. Hecht; Ali Javeed; John T. Jost; Aaron C. Kay; Nick R. Kay; Brandyn Keating; John Michael Kelly; James R. G. Kirk; Malka Kopell; Nour Kteily; Emily Kubin; Jeffrey Lees; Gabriel Lenz; Matthew Levendusky; Rebecca Littman; Kara Luo; Aaron Lyles; Ben Lyons; Wayde Marsh; James Martherus; Lauren Alpert Maurer; Caroline Mehl; Julia Minson; Molly Moore; Samantha L. Moore...; Michael H. Pasek; Alex Pentland; Curtis Puryear; Hossein Rahnama; Steve Rathje; Jay Rosato; Maytal Saar-Tsech...; Luiza Almeida Santos; Colleen M. Seifert; Azim Shariff; Otto Simonsson; Shiri Spitz Siddiqi; Daniel F. Stone; Palma Strand; Michael Tomz; David S. Yeager; Erez Yoeli; Jamil Zaki; James N. Druckman; David G. Rand; Robb Willer
• Keywords: Male; Attitude; Public Opinion; Politics; Humans; Female; 10. No inequality; 16. Peace & justice; Democracy; United States

Scholars warn that partisan divisions in the mass public threaten the health of American democracy. We conducted a megastudy (n = 32,059 participants) testing 25 treatments designed by academics and practitioners to reduce Americans’ partisan animosity and antidemocratic attitudes. We find that many treatments reduced partisan animosity, most strongly by highlighting relatable sympathetic individuals with different political beliefs or by emphasizing common identities shared by rival partisans. We also identify several treatments that reduced support for undemocratic practices – most strongly by correcting misperceptions of rival partisans’ views or highlighting the threat of democratic collapse – which shows that antidemocratic attitudes are not intractable. Taken together, the study’s findings identify promising general strategies for reducing partisan division and improving democratic attitudes, shedding theoretical light on challenges facing American democracy.