How Your Neighbors Shape Your Politics

Colloquy

We hate each other more than we used to, at least where politics is concerned. Measures of effective polarization, the animosity that Democrats have for Republicans and vice versa, have increased dramatically since the 1990s, according to a 2021 study by political scientists James Druckman and Jeremy Levy. Moreover, the most polarized folks are the ones most likely to vote in primaries, resulting in more extreme general election candidates, which further polarize voters, and so on.

Boston University professor Jacob Brown, PhD ’22 says that where we live shapes the political party we join and the candidates we vote for. The places we grow up shape our views and social pressure influences our affiliations. Moreover, when we change neighborhoods or our neighborhoods change around us, our party ID can change too. That fact—that our affiliations are not necessarily set in stone, but can shift as the people and places around us do—may offer some hope for the future of civic life in The United States . . . if we know what to do with it.