Partisan sorting: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:35, 26 January 2022

Revision as of 03:36, 26 January 2022

Line 1:

'''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." As an example given by McCarty, the gap between the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] on views towards immigrants strengthening the country with hard work and talents has widened from a 2-point gap in 1994 to a 42-point gap in 2017. A reasonable explanation is that of partisan sorting: those who are pro-immigrant shifted into the Democratic party and immigration-restrictions have shifted towards the Republican party. According to McCarty, this explains the widening gap between the two parties, even though pro-immigration viewpoints between the two surveys have increased by 35% since 1994.<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>

== Applications ==

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" />

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>