As a new report from the Bridge Alliance makes clear, addressing political animosity is no small order in the United States today. Sean Westwood, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College and director of the Lab, which led the research. Our preliminary evaluation research, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms that concrete interventions can and do break down partisan hostility. The impacts are small and wear off rather rapidly. These discoveries mark the beginning of an ongoing study and a hopeful call for deeper societal change—beyond simple depolarization today—for long-term, sustainable depolarization.
The most surprising result of the study was that interventions aimed at decreasing partisan animus were most effective. On average, partisans’ attitude towards the out-party became more positive by just 5.3%. This paltry increase hardly outweighs that. It pales in comparison to the 7% increase in partisan animosity we witnessed from the 2016 to the 2020 U.S. elections. Westwood and his colleagues dismiss the glorious stereotypes. They contend that feel-good fixes can never go far enough to close the growing gap between the haves and have-nots.
Experimental Findings and Meta-Analysis
So Westwood and his team set out to understand this issue in more depth. Their resulting mega-meta-analysis included 25 individual prior studies and examined the effectiveness of 77 distinct methods to lessen partisan animosity. To this end, the researchers designed two large-scale experiments designed to test whether combining or repeating interventions could improve intervention effectiveness.
One of the largest such experiments was conducted with over 5,000 respondents. Among other outcomes, it assessed the effect of a “booster shot,” or repeated treatment over time, on the enduring suppression of aggression. Sadly, the treatments proved unsustainable, as their impact dissipated after two weeks. After one week, three-quarters of that initial increase in friendliness was gone. These results highlight the short-lived quality of interventions designed to address political hostility.
“Without more systematic changes, America’s divisions will only continue to deepen.” – Sean Westwood
The study’s results demonstrate that focused, personal interventions can produce immediate positive changes in disposition toward individuals affiliated with rival political factions. They don’t deliver long-term change.
The Need for Systemic Change
As far as depolarizing work goes, Westwood believes enough depolarization is impossible without seismic changes taking place at an American societal level. He argues that healing this political animosity will take a multifaceted effort that meets both top-down and bottom-up approaches.
“Principles of civil discourse and respectful dialogue need to be embedded into the education system in the U.S.,” – Sean Westwood
As Westwood points out, we need to hold political elites accountable for their behavior. He believes that the structural incentives aggravating this conflict inside our political and media systems need to be changed. Unless something changes, he cautions, these systems will keep rewarding the most outrageous with votes and with eyeballs. Consequently, even the best of individual efforts to cross divides will face overwhelming odds.
“As long as political and media systems reward outrage with votes and viewership—stoking division—any individual-level effort to depolarize is up against a powerful, unending tide,” – Sean Westwood
Indeed, the researchers’ findings underscore the need to promote civic skills among the citizenry in order to create pathways for productive engagement across differences.
Implications for Future Research and Action
These findings should serve as a strong signal to policymakers and educators. For one, it calls into question how effective these ongoing initiatives currently are at reducing hostility towards political opponents. This necessitates rethinking the approaches that are implemented through these campaigns.
Westwood is calling for a multi-pronged approach that combines education about civil discourse with systemic reforms to our political infrastructure. Otherwise, he argues, America will continue to struggle against ever-widening divides. Without critical transformation at the individual and institutional levels, this fight will become increasingly futile.
“To achieve lasting depolarization in the U.S., a fundamental shift in society is needed,” – Sean Westwood