How Cross-Cutting Ties Reduce Affective Polarization: Evidence from Latino Americans

Affective polarization—that is, personal dislike and distrust between Democrats and Republicans—is argued to arise, at least in part, from fewer cross-cutting ties that bridge Democrats and Republicans. We argue that this phenomenon might be specifically relevant to non-Latino white Americans, but less so to Latinos who form a politically diverse group with strong social ties that unite them. Across six years of American National Election Studies data and original survey data from twelve different states across the country, we first show that cross-cutting group memberships predict warmer out-party affect. We then show, across our multiple datasets, that Latinos hold more cross-cutting ties than do non-Latino whites. Further, our data reveal that Latinos consistently hold warmer views of the out-party. Finally, we show with novel survey data that Latinos are especially warm toward out-partisans from within the Latino community. We conclude that affective polarization is less prevalent among Latino Americans who make up the fastest-growing proportion of the American electorate. More broadly, we argue that political behavior among white Americans should not be generalized across ethnic groups without considering unique characteristics of each group.