A recent study published in the American Behavioral Scientist suggests that American voters judge the communication styles of the Democratic and Republican parties in highly unequal ways. The research provides evidence that voters show different levels of tolerance toward opposing political candidates, with Donald Trump facing significantly more rejection from rival voters than Kamala Harris.
In the United States, two main political factions dominate the government. This environment creates a system where people tend to align strongly with their chosen side. Over the past few years, the political climate has experienced high levels of polarization. Polarization refers to a deep divide in society where people split into opposing groups that struggle to agree on basic facts or shared realities.
The conflict surrounding the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election created deep divisions in American society. Partisan identity began to shape not only political opinions but also how people assessed factual circumstances. A similar division occurred with the public perception of the events at the United States Capitol in 2021. These events highlight a growing trend where voters split into mutually exclusive groups with entirely different views of social reality.
In a polarized society, individuals often experience something called homophily. Homophily is the human tendency to seek out and associate with people who share similar beliefs and values. This desire for similarity extends to the media people consume, which algorithms on social platforms often reinforce by showing users content they already agree with. When people only interact with like-minded individuals, they often develop affective polarization.
Affective polarization describes a situation where voters not only disagree with the opposing side but actually feel a deep emotional dislike toward them. A healthy democracy relies on the idea of political tolerance, meaning citizens accept a politician’s right to express ideas even if they disagree with the policies. This concept is closely tied to political legitimacy. Political legitimacy is the general public belief that a political group or leader is socially acceptable and operates within normal rules.
Lluc Vila-Boix, a PhD candidate at the Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations at Ramon Llull University, and his fellow authors designed their study to understand how American voters perceive the legitimacy of the communication styles used by major candidates. They aimed to test whether people reject just the political ideas of their opponents or if they actively reject the way those opponents communicate.
“We were interested in a dimension of polarization that receives little attention: not what politicians say, but how they communicate and whether voters tolerate or reject that style, regardless of the ideological content,” Vila-Boix said.
“Previous research on U.S. polarization had focused on media consumption, vote behavior, or perceptions of electoral results,” he added. “We wanted to study whether intolerance had reached the very form of political discourse itself, and whether that asymmetry could be measured systematically across electoral cycles.”
To investigate this topic, the scientists partnered with the Emerson College Polling Center to survey a representative group of American adults. The data collection took place on October 13, 2024, approximately one month before the presidential election. The sample included exactly 1,000 respondents. Participants answered surveys through text message links and online panels.
The polling team weighted the responses according to the electoral significance of different regions across the country. They selected these individuals to match the general population in terms of age, gender, race, and education. This weighting ensures that the final data accurately reflects the demographic makeup of the national electorate.
The survey asked participants to rate the communication styles of four specific subjects. These subjects were Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party. For each one, respondents chose from five options ranging from completely unacceptable to completely acceptable. The scientists grouped these answers into three main categories for their analysis.
The “Rejection” category included people who found the communication unacceptable or completely unacceptable. The “Acceptance” category included those who found it acceptable or completely acceptable. Finally, the “Tolerance” category combined the acceptance group with those who felt neutral or indifferent. The analysis revealed noticeable differences in how voters view their own parties.
“Intolerance toward political communication is not symmetrical across the political spectrum,” Vila-Boix noted. “We found that Republican voters were generally more tolerant of the Democratic communication style than Democratic voters were of the Republican style. Furthermore, Kamala Harris enjoyed significantly higher levels of acceptance and tolerance among both her supporters and rival voters compared to Donald Trump.”
Both Democrats and Republicans showed an overall tolerance level of around 90 percent for their own side. However, the intensity of this support varied. About 33 percent of Democratic voters found their party’s communication completely acceptable. In contrast, Republican voters were more evenly split, with many choosing a neutral response rather than full acceptance.
When looking at the specific candidates, the scientists found that Kamala Harris enjoyed higher approval from her own base than Donald Trump did from his. About 86 percent of Democratic voters accepted Harris’s communication style. On the other hand, Trump’s acceptance rate among Republican voters sat at 72 percent.
“We were surprised by the extreme level of ‘Complete Rejection’ among Democrats toward Donald Trump’s communication style (69%), in comparison with the Republicans’ complete rejection of Harris’s style (41%),” Vila-Boix told PsyPost.
The data indicated that Republican voters hardly differentiate between Donald Trump and the broader party. For Democrats, voters accepted Kamala Harris’s communication style more than that of the Democratic Party itself. This pattern suggests that Harris possessed a personal appeal that outpaced her party’s institutional reputation.
“Additionally, Harris showed a ‘charismatic leadership’ effect, where her personal communication style was perceived more favorably than the Democratic Party as an institution, even among some rival voters,” Vila-Boix said.
As with all research, there are a few limitations. The study relies on a cross-sectional design, meaning the researchers collected all the data at a single point in time. Because of this, the authors cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between political identity and views on communication.
“It is crucial to distinguish between agreeing with a message and tolerating the ‘form’ or style in which it is delivered; our study focuses on the latter,” Vila-Boix noted. “Also, the data represents a snapshot in time (October 2024) following major campaign events, and as a cross-sectional study, it cannot definitively prove if style causes polarization or if pre-existing partisan identities filter how style is perceived.”
The timing of the survey also presents a potential limitation. The researchers gathered the data shortly after a highly turbulent period in U.S. politics. This specific context might have amplified people’s emotional reactions to the candidates.
“A citizen may strongly disagree with someone’s opinion but still accept that the other person has the right to defend it,” Vila-Boix explained. “Our study focuses on that second layer: not whether voters agree with the message, but whether they can tolerate the way it is delivered.”
To address these gaps, the authors suggest that future research could track voter opinions over a longer period. Observing how public perception changes in response to specific campaign events would provide a deeper understanding of political tolerance.
“Our long-term goal is to use the quantitative tool developed in this study to monitor changes in political polarization across future electoral cycles,” Vila-Boix said. “We also plan to delve deeper into the different dimensions of legitimacy, pragmatic, moral, and cognitive, to see which aspects of rhetorical style are most impactful.”
The researchers note that these evolving dynamics have real consequences for society. A functioning government relies on mutual respect and shared standards.
“When even the style of communication is rejected as illegitimate, the common democratic framework begins to erode,” Vila-Boix said. “The study underscores that tolerance of opposing communication styles is vital for democratic stability. When voters reject the very way an opponent communicates as ‘illegitimate,’ it erodes the common political framework necessary for a healthy pluralist society.”
The study, “Perceived Legitimacy and Polarization in Political Communication: Evidence from the 2024 U.S. Election,” was authored by Lluc Vila-Boix, Miguel Franco Pérez, Giorgia Miotto, and Alicia Blanco-González.
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