Partisan attachments create an information gap beyond just citizens: politicians also filter perspectives.
• Citizens prefer communicating with copartisan elected officials, avoiding outpartisans altogether.
• Three studies (observational, field experiment, natural experiment) confirm this bias across the US political landscape.
• This 'preaching to the choir' tendency creates a feedback loop that may fuel polarization by shielding politicians from diverse public viewpoints.
| Preaching to the Choir: Americans Prefer Communicating to Copartisan Elected Officials was authored by David Broockman and Timothy J. Ryan. It was published by Wiley in AJPS in 2016. |
