Attitude polarisation in Spain: ideological groups at loggerheads

Attitude polarisation (defined as the emotional gap between a person’s affection for others with the same political ideologies and their rejection of those with different opinions) negatively impacts the smooth running of our democracies because it:

• impairs cooperation between citizens
• affects trust in institutions
• reduces the legitimacy of governments
• causes mistrust and rejection among political adversaries and can even bring institutions to a halt.

Ultimately, attitude polarisation creates a climate of opinion that facilitates poor governance.

Attitude polarisation in Spain today is greater than two decades ago: the difference in the likelihood of voting for the party actually voted for and other parties (weighted by size) has increased by 50% (from 5.3 to 7.8 on a scale of 1 to 10).