Partisan sorting: Difference between revisions

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'''Partisan sorting''' is an effect in politics in which voters sort themselves into parties that match their ideology.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Mason|first=Lilliana|date=2015|title="I Disrespectfully Agree": The Differential Effects of Partisan Sorting on Social and Issue Polarization|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24363600|journal=American Journal of Political Science|volume=59|issue=1|pages=128–145|issn=0092-5853}}</ref> Partisan sorting is distinct from [[political polarization]], which is where [[Partisan (politics)|partisans]] subscribe to increasingly extreme positions. As political scientist [[Nolan McCarty]] explains, "party sorting can account for the increased differences across partisans even if the distribution of...attitudes in the population remains unchanged or moves uniformly in one direction or the other."<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=McCarty|first=Nolan|title=What is Political Polarization?|date=2019-12-05|url=https://whateveryoneneedstoknow.com/view/10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001/isbn-9780190867782-book-part-2|work=Polarization|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.003.0002|isbn=978-0-19-086778-2|access-date=2022-01-26}}</ref>

'''Partisan sorting''' or '''geographic sorting''' is an effect in politics in which voters with specific viewpoints migrate to specific areas, becoming much more concentrated in them than in the wider electorate.<ref name="Voter migration is a significant factor in the geographic sorting of the American electorate">{{cite web|last1=Tam Cho|first1=Wendy|title=Voter migration is a significant factor in the geographic sorting of the American electorate|url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2013/11/19/voter-migration-is-a-significant-factor-in-the-geographic-sorting-of-the-american-electorate/|publisher=[[London School of Economics]]|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="LSE blog Partisan sorting is a very recent phenomenon, and has been driven by the Southern realignment.">{{cite web|last1=Lang|first1=Corey|last2=Pearson-Merkowitz|first2=Shanna|title=Partisan sorting is a very recent phenomenon, and has been driven by the Southern realignment.|url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2015/11/10/partisan-sorting-is-a-very-recent-phenomenon-and-has-been-driven-by-the-southern-realignment/|publisher=[[London School of Economics]]|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Polarized or Sorted? Just What’s Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?">{{cite web|last1=Abramowitz|first1=Alan|last2=Fiorina|first2=Morris|title=Polarized or Sorted? Just What's Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/03/11/polarized-or-sorted-just-whats-wrong-with-our-politics-anyway/|website=The American Interest|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref> This effect may create or contribute to an effect of [[Polarization (politics)|polarization]], in which separate areas become dominated by political movements much more extreme than might be expected given the "average" political views of voters.

Partisan sorting is used as a potential explainer for how in recent decades the [[Democratic Party (United States)|American Democratic Party]] has become more liberal while the [[Republican Party (United States)|American Republican Party]] has become more conservative.<ref name=":0" /> One school of thought led by [[Morris Fiorina]]<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=McCarty|first=Nolan|title=What is Political Polarization?|date=2019-12-05|url=https://whateveryoneneedstoknow.com/view/10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001/isbn-9780190867782-book-part-2|work=Polarization|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.003.0002|isbn=978-0-19-086778-2|access-date=2022-01-26}}</ref> concludes most of the change from ideological partisan sorting, with polarization having little effect or being solely limited to the political elites.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Polarized or Sorted? Just What’s Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?">{{cite web|last1=Abramowitz|first1=Alan|last2=Fiorina|first2=Morris|title=Polarized or Sorted? Just What's Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/03/11/polarized-or-sorted-just-whats-wrong-with-our-politics-anyway/|website=The American Interest|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref> Conversely, another school of thought led by [[Alan Abramowitz]]<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=McCarty|first=Nolan|title=What is Political Polarization?|date=2019-12-05|url=https://whateveryoneneedstoknow.com/view/10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001/isbn-9780190867782-book-part-2|work=Polarization|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.003.0002|isbn=978-0-19-086778-2|access-date=2022-01-26}}</ref> challenges this and says sorting itself is a reflection of political polarization and that both the elites and the public have become increasing polarized.<ref name=":0" />

In 2008, ''[[The Economist]]'' commented that in American politics sorting was making "the culture war more bitter and politics harder."<ref name="Economist The Big Sort">{{cite web|title=The Big Sort|url=http://www.economist.com/node/11581447|website=[[The Economist]]|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref>

A 2016 study finds no evidence that partisans move to more politically compatible communities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mummolo|first=Jonathan|last2=Nall|first2=Clayton|date=2016-10-13|title=Why Partisans Do Not Sort: The Constraints on Political Segregation|journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=79|pages=45–59|doi=10.1086/687569|issn=0022-3816}}</ref>