Mass Polarization

A large number of measures can be classified as measures of mass polarization, i.e., polarization that is measured between members of the broader public. This is to a great degree due to the fact that the most commonly available datasets are general population surveys. However, one should still distinct whether the measures are directed at other members of the public (horizontal polarization) or at political elites (vertical polarization). One could, for example, ask for opinions of the voters of a certain party, or of the party and its officials itself.

Leininger, A., Grünewald, F. & Buntfuß, N. (2023, August 11).
Ideological and affective polarization in multiparty systems. doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/mz6rs

Measures

Measure	Polarization
API	affective, mass, vertical
Distance	affective, mass, vertical
Party Dyads	ideological, affective, mass, vertical
Other Polarization Measurements	ideological, issue, affective, elite, horizontal, mass, vertical
Polarization Index	ideological, elite, mass
SD	ideological, elite, mass
Social Distance Scale	affective, mass, horizontal
Spread	affective, mass, vertical

Use cases

Publications that address affective polarization:

Title	Authors
Is Polarization a Myth?	Abramowitz and Saunders (2008)
Can’t We All Just Get Along?	Adams et al. (2023)
The Downsian roots of affective polarization	Algara and Zur (2023)
Vertical vs horizontal affective polarization Disentangling feelings towards elites and voters	Areal and Harteveld (2024)
Elite communication and affective polarization among voters	Bäck et al. (2023)
Elite polarization, party extremity, and affective polarization	Banda and Cluverius (2018)
Has Trust in the European Parliament Polarized?	Bauer and Morisi (2023)
Institutional design and polarization	Bernaerts et al. (2023)
Consequences of affective polarization	Berntzen et al. (2023)
A regional perspective to the study of affective polarisation	Bettarelli et al. (2023)
Do Voters Polarize When Radical Parties Enter Parliament?	Bischof and Wagner (2019)
Cleavage politics, polarisation and participation in Western Europe	Borbáth et al. (2023)
Cross-Country Trends in Affective Polarization	Boxell et al. (2022)
Understanding Polarization	Bramson et al. (2017)
How do masses react to party polarization?	Çakir (2024)
The Politics of Interpersonal Trust and Reciprocity	Carlin and Love (2013)
What can De-Polarize the Polarizers?	Ciobanu and Sandu (2022)
Growing polarisation	Coffé, Crawley and Givens (2025)
Ideological identity, issue-based ideology and bipolar affective polarization in multiparty systems	Comellas and Torcal (2023)
When polarised feelings towards parties spread to voters	Comellas Bonsfills (2022)
The Two-Way Effects of Populism on Affective Polarization	Davis et al. (2024)
Misinformation, Narratives, and Intergroup Attitudes: Evidence from India	Daxecker, Fjelde, Prasad (2025)
What Do We Measure When We Measure Affective Polarization?	Druckman and Levendusky (2019)
Defending the Status Quo or Seeking Change? Electoral Outcomes, Affective Polarization, and Support for Referendums	Eck and Paulis (2025)
Measuring Agreement in Ordered Rating Scales	Eijk (2001)
Affective Polarization towards Parties and Leaders, and Electoral Participation in 13 Parliamentary Democracies, 1980–2019	Ferreira da Silva and Garzia (2025)
Affective Polarisation in Comparative and Longitudinal Perspective	Garzia et al. (2023)
American Affective Polarization in Comparative Perspective	Gidron et al. (2020)
Validating the feeling thermometer as a measure of partisan affect in multi-party systems	Gidron et al. (2022)
Gender and affective polarization	Han (2025)
Fragmented foes	Harteveld (2021)
Does affective polarisation increase turnout?	Harteveld and Wagner (2023)
Affective polarization and the salience of elections	Hernández et al. (2021)
Divided by the Vote	Hobolt et al. (2020)
Fear and Loathing across Party Lines	Iyengar and Westwood (2015)
Affect, Not Ideology	Iyengar et al. (2012)
Sweet victory, bitter defeat	Janssen (2023)
Affective Polarization and Misinformation Belief	Jenke (2023)
Populist attitudes, cleavage identification, and polarization in Austria and Germany	Jungkunz and Helbling (2025)
Affective polarization in a word: Open-ended and self-coded evaluations of partisan affect	Kiesel and Amlani (2025)
The Bipolar Voter	Moral (2017)
On the relationship between party polarisation and citizen polarisation	Moral and Best (2023)
Why can’t we be friends?	Norman and Green (2025)
The relationship between affective polarisation and democratic backsliding	Orhan (2022)
Measuring partisan polarization with partisan differences in satisfaction with the government	Patkós (2023)
Fear and loathing across party lines (also) in Europe	Reiljan (2020)
Patterns of Affective Polarisation toward Parties and Leaders across the Democratic World	Reiljan et al. (2023)
Overlapping polarization	Riera and Madariaga (2023)
Polarisation, identity and affect	Röllicke (2023)
Exploring differences in affective polarization between the Nordic countries	Ryan (2023)
Populist radical right parties and mass polarization in the Netherlands	Silva (2018)
What polarizes citizens?	Teney, Pietrantuono and Wolfram (2024)
Intergroup contact reduces affective polarization but not among strong party identifiers	Thomsen and Thomsen (2023)
What Do We Measure When We Measure Affective Polarization across Countries?	Tichelbaecker et al. (2023)
Social trust and affective polarization in Spain (2014–19)	Torcal and Thomson (2023)
Group-based public opinion polarisation in multi-party systems	Traber et al. (2023)
Affective polarization in Europe	Wagner (2024)
Divided by the jab	Wagner and Eberl (2024)
Elite Cooperation and Affective Polarization	Wagner and Harteveld (2024)
Affective polarization and coalition signals	Wagner and Praprotnik (2023)
The tie that divides	Westwood et al. (2018)
An unrequited conflict	Zumbrunn (2025)

Definitions of Polarization

Ideological Polarization

Affective Polarization

Elite Polarization