The Devil No More? Decreasing Negative Outparty Affect through Asymmetric Partisan Thinking.

This article examines whether asymmetric informational interventions can reduce affective polarization—specifically, negative outparty affect—between Republicans and Democrats in the United States. Using two original survey experiments, the study finds that providing Republicans with factual, policy-based (instrumental) information about both parties decreases their negative feelings toward Democrats, while providing Democrats with information about the social coalitions (expressive information) associated with each party similarly reduces their negative feelings toward Republicans. However, these interventions do not significantly increase positive feelings toward one's own party (inparty affect). The findings suggest that tailoring information to align with the distinct partisan cognitive styles of Republicans and Democrats may be a promising approach to mitigating affective polarization in American politics.