Polarization Research Lab

PRL is hiring a data scientist at Dartmouth College! We're looking for someone who can jump in and provide end-to-end data management and who has experience deploying ML and NLP models at scale. Our focus is good science, conveyed clearly and in real time. You can get a sense of some of our major projects developed in-house at americaspoliticalpulse.com. https://lnkd.in/e9R_2JRZ

The Polarization Research Lab is looking for postdoctoral researchers (up to three) for 2025-2026! Postdocs must have a PhD before the start date (July 1, 2025). We are looking for strong statistical and data analysis skills. Postdocs will work on research projects on partisan animosity, (anti)democratic attitudes, elite behavior, and governance in the United States. Applications are due by email by January 15, 2025. Details and instructions at https://lnkd.in/eEDuJteV

Our November/December cover story highlights surprising findings from government professor Sean Westwood’s Polarization Research Lab, which studies partisan animosity in American politics. https://lnkd.in/gruwa-Hd #dartmouth #dartmouthgovernment #politics

In a new paper out in PNAS Nexus today, we show using 99,000 survey interviews that affective polarization is a national rather than state-by-state problem in the United States. Polarization is better explained by individual-level attitudes than by geographic differences across states, such as political institutions, demographics, or economic conditions. This work suggests that interventions to combat polarization should target the psychological underpinnings of partisan attachment or the root source of hostility in elite rhetoric and behavior. Full paper: https://lnkd.in/dEbc5fWd

Associate professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the co-director of the Polarization Research Lab, Yphtach Lelkes talked with Greg Berman, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation distinguished fellow of practice, about the relationship between polarization and political violence. Read the interview: https://lnkd.in/giHJ2ukN #PolarizationProject #ViolencePoliticsDemocracy #HFGuggenheim

A small number of conflict entrepreneurs in Congress are driving polarization and hampering democracy. Today, Vox covers our research and tool designed to identify and track the rhetoric of elected officials: https://lnkd.in/e95vRJFK Conflict entrepreneurs are less effective lawmakers, but they garner more media attention, making it seem like their flavor of governing dominates Congress. In reality, most of our elected officials are focusing on the business of government. We hope this tool can help Americans see through the noise and media landscape by providing real-time data on the rhetoric and actions of our elected officials. Explore the full tool at: https://lnkd.in/emwMCEbi

At the Polarization Research Lab we take the pulse of American democracy every week by interviewing 1,000 Americans. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say we are more divided as a nation than ever and a quarter see the other side as evil or bad. We also track communications and social media from elected officials in real time so we're able to identify the connection between the attitudes of elected officials and the attitudes of citizens. There is a clear pattern: When politicians become more negative, citizens become more negative. We've created a dashboard that allows Americans to figure out what their representative is doing and saying, quantifying how much time representatives spend talking about actual issues and legislation and how much time they spend focusing on their own division-centered brand. See the elected official and citizen data here: https://lnkd.in/eSpavmai

Think America is hopelessly divided? New research from the Polarization Research Lab reveals it’s emotions, not policies, driving the divide:

Traditional political polling works too slowly for us to understand the impact of current events on public opinion. That’s why Polarization Research Lab surveys 1000 Americans weekly to create a real-time picture of political polarization — and their findings reveal one major factor that’s driving us apart:

We had our survey in the field at the time of the assassination attempt. We found that this act of political violence did not lead to an increase in support for political violence but rather to positive in-group feelings among Republicans.