Dyck and Pearson-Merkowitz conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the effects of partisanship. Drawing on surveys and an array of other data, they show that partisanship and partisan cues shape attitudes, behaviors, and preferences across a huge range of domains, extending well beyond the political realm. This creative and thought-provoking study illuminates the drivers of growing affective polarization in society, as well as the challenges facing American democracy ahead.

Frances E. Lee, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University

This book convincingly demonstrates how partisanship distorts our view of the world. Through a series of well-designed experiments, Dyck and Pearson-Merkowitz show how our responses to partisan signals affects everything from the politicians and policies we support to the foods we like. They also reveal how independent voters may be both more savvy than often portrayed and better able than partisans to realistically assess the world. This book is vital for those seeking to understand partisanship and its role in our political system.

Seth Masket, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center on American Politics, University of Denver

In this groundbreaking book, Dyck and Pearson-Merkowitz go beyond the well-tread domain of how partisanship affects politics to document how deep the influence of affective attachments to parties has become. The pair make two key contributions. First, they document that partisanship has become so toxic that the ameliorative power of positive intergroup contact—long thought to reduce intergroup animosity—has little impact on how we view out-partisans. Second, they question the value of measures of political knowledge. As what we know about politics has become endogenous to partisanship, the political science canon about how political knowledge affects political preferences becomes upended and in need of revision. A must-read for students of American politics today.

Alexandra Filindra, Associate Professor of Political Science and Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago