CCPP Undergraduate Affiliate Paige Galperin recently presented findings from her summer research project, “From Bark to Bite: The Link Between Political Discussion Network Composition and Support for Partisan Violence,” at Northwestern University’s Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) Research Symposium on August 7th.
Drawing on data from CCPP’s 2024 National Post-Election Survey, Paige examined how the size and composition of individuals’ political discussion networks shape their meta-perceptions, that is, their beliefs about how much opposing partisans support political violence to achieve political goals. These meta-perceptions matter because prior research shows they can drive support for political violence: when Democrats, for instance, overestimate how much Republicans endorse violence, they become more likely to support violence themselves in defense of their in-group.
Paige’s analysis revealed that greater political diversity within a discussion network reduces meta-perception bias—and, in turn, lowers individuals’ own support for political violence. However, larger discussion networks were associated with greater bias, which increased support for violence. Beyond interpersonal talk, she also found that partisan news consumption, but not social media news use, heightened meta-perception bias.
Together, these findings underscore that who you talk to matters more than how many people you talk with. Encouraging cross-partisan discussion and exposure to diverse viewpoints may be a crucial step toward reducing misperceptions and mitigating the growing threat of political violence in American politics.