This study presents the results of a quasi-experiment to assess the effects of viewing a strategically manipulated portion of a 2020 Democratic Primary debate. Our aim was to assess the polarizing potential of primary debates on both ingroup (Democratic) and outgroup (Republican) viewers. Viewing the primary debate resulted in less perceived closeness with members of the opposing political party, greater feelings of social distance, and more attribution of malevolent intentions. These effects were consistent regardless of whether the viewer was a member of the political ingroup (Democrats) or outgroup (Republicans). Conversely, there was no effect of debate viewing on evaluations of outparty candidates (with respect to negative trait attributions or lower feeling thermometer evaluations)., nor did support for political compromise change as a result of viewing the debate. Both Democrats and independents reported improved evaluations of participating candidates, though Republican evaluations did not change.

本研究展示了一项准实验的结果，以评估观看 2020 年民主党初选辩论中战略性操纵部分的影响。我们的目标是评估主要辩论对内群体（民主党）和外群体（共和党）观众的两极分化潜力。观看主要辩论导致与对立政党成员的亲近感降低，社交距离感增加，以及更多的恶意意图归因。无论观众是政治内群体（民主党）还是外群体（共和党），这些效果都是一致的。相反，辩论观看对外部候选人的评估没有影响（关于负面特质归因或较低的感觉温度计评估），对政治妥协的支持也没有因为观看辩论而改变。民主党人和独立人士都报告称，对参与候选人的评价有所改善，但共和党人的评价没有改变。