Polarized Networks? New Evidence on American Voters’ Political Discussion Networks

An important mechanism of mass political polarization involves citizens’ social networks: how politically homogeneous are they, how has this changed over recent years, and which individual and contextual variables predict the degree of homogeneity in social networks? Moreover, what are the consequences of network homophily on political preferences and in and out-group perceptions? In this paper, we address these questions by combining data from the 2000 American National Election Study and original data from the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study. Both surveys ask respondents a battery of questions about the individuals with whom they most frequently discuss politics, including perceived vote choice and level of political knowledge. Using these data, we offer an updated empirical assessment of how polarization is influencing—and is influenced by—social network homophily.