Patterns of Polarizing Communication During COVID-19: Emotionality, Incivility, Conflict, and Negativity in Facebook Posts of Government and Opposition Leaders

Contemporary politics has been filled with increasing political disagreements beyond opinion contestation essential for democratic competition. This study examines the polarizing communication of government and opposition leaders on the social networking site Facebook in the Czech Republic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bringing a communication approach to the social identity perspective on polarization, we conceptualize polarizing communication as simultaneous expressions of in-group favoritism toward allies and out-group hostility toward opponents in political messages. We empirically examine the role of negativity and affiliation with a populist party and the government in using polarizing communication during different pandemic waves. We use the data from a manual content analysis (n = 1,581) of social media content created by government actors (prime minister, ministers) and leaders of opposition parties (2020–2021). Our results reveal that polarizing communication during a crisis is associated with the use of incivility and conflict in political messages, and its usage depends on the characteristics of political actors driving it, with populist and opposition leaders employing polarizing communication more.