Fear and loathing across party lines now means that for some, partisan prejudice can be stronger than racial prejudice.

The evidence points to the American electorate being more polarized than ever – but aside from influencing election results, what does this mean for wider society? In new research Shanto Iyengar examines people’s prejudices towards those that identify with their political opponents – or ‘out groups’. By using experiments which test these prejudices, he finds that partisan prejudice and bias outweighs racial biases. He writes that this heightened state of partisan ill will may be being fuelled by the polarizing effects of a news media which allows people to self-select into an audience that shares their partisan views.