Political knowledge and affective polarization: a spillover mechanism through emotions toward partisan media

Abstract Drawing on a two-wave national survey conducted in the United States, this study examined an emotion spillover mechanism underlying the link between political knowledge and affective polarization. Results indicate that partisans with high political knowledge demonstrated more negative emotions toward opposing partisan media outlets and more positive emotions toward congruent partisan media outlets. Gaps in emotional responses toward partisan media outlets spill over to affective polarization. Specifically, the gap in negative emotional response toward counter- and pro-attitudinal media outlets spills over to affective polarization toward individual partisans. We discuss how partisan media exacerbate polarization and propose possible remedies.