Open AccessThe Appearance of Polarization Due to Attitude Formation in the 2004 Presidential Election
Author(s) -
Dennis L. Plane
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american review of politics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2374-779X
pISSN - 2374-7781
DOI - 10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2008.29.0.19-47
Subject(s) - presidential election , polarization (electrochemistry) , politics , presidential system , political science , social psychology , psychology , political economy , law , sociology , chemistry
Citizens were more engaged in the 2004 election than they were in 2000. This increased engagement was accompanied by attitude formation. Specifically, fewer citizens gave don’t know responses. In addition, fewer citizens gave midpoint responses on attitudinal scales; such responses are often a refuge for those lacking meaningful attitudes. Furthermore, attitude formation was accompanied by increased attitude extremitization. We find that this extremitization occurred for both partisans and for independents. More noticeable differences in extremitization occurred as a function of political engagement, with more engaged citizens exhibiting greater extremitization than their lesser-involved counterparts.