Affective polarization captures the extent to which citizens feel sympathy towardspartisan in-groups and antagonism towards partisan out-groups. This is comparativelyeasy to assess in two-party systems. This paper first discusses challengesin applying the concept to multiparty setting and then presents different ways ofmeasuring affective polarization using like-dislike scores, a widespread measure ofparty sympathy. Using data for 41 countries and 124 elections from four modulesof the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, I then show that affective polarizationadds to existing concepts as a way of understanding political participationand democratic orientations. Studying affective polarization outside the US couldtherefore have important consequences for our understanding of citizen perceptionsof politics as well as citizen behaviour.
Affective polarization in multiparty systems
