Fear and Loathing? Affective Polarization Feels Less Negative Than Assumed

Affective polarization has become a central concept to explain how citizens think and behave in Western democracies. However, while research made great progress on the causes, consequences, and remedies of this concept, we know surprisingly little about how affective polarization actually feels. This research note contributes to recent efforts to characterize affective polarization with specific emotions. Drawing on cross-sectional data from five European countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK; total N = 4,794), we analyze which of fifteen emotions respondents experience toward in-party and out-party voters, and which of these emotions correlate with affective polarization scores. We find that fear-related emotions are rare, that anger-related emotions exist to moderate extents, and that positive emotions are surprisingly common. We also describe patterns across countries and demographic backgrounds and highlight a practical implication: affective polarization feels less grave than what prevailing notions of “fear and loathing” let believe.