Political ideology shapes beliefs about others’ generosity, not one’s own generosity

From 2016 – 2020, utilizing multiple cohorts during two U.S. presidential elections, we investigated whether political ideology predicts generosity, as well as beliefs about generosity of out-groups who hold an opposing ideology. Using the social discounting paradigm, we found that generosity toward distant others did not vary as a function of political ideology. Instead, we found that both liberals and conservatives overestimated in-group generosity relative to actual generosity. Relative to liberals, conservatives believed both groups are more generous than they actually are on average. Liberals were more accurate about conservatives’ generosity, but overestimated in-group generosity. These results suggest that perceived differences in generosity across the U.S. political spectrum might primarily result from in- and out-party attitudes rather than actual, first-person giving behaviors.