Jacob Francy, '26
Democrats and Republicans have major philosophical and emotional differences. So, Pennsylvania State put it to the test, and the results may surprise you.
“There has been plenty of press coverage on the growing political polarization in the United States. People appear increasingly hostile and less likely to want to engage socially with their ideological opponents. We wondered whether people might misrepresent the characteristics of their typical ideological outgroup member on an important moral emotion – compassion,” said study author Julian A. Scheffer, a member of the Empathy and Moral Psychology (EMP) Lab at Pennsylvania State University.
Compassion was brought up as a major difference between the two types of people. In the study, immigration seemed to specifically represent the two’s empathy extremely well. Democrats see Republicans as “cold-blooded” for their stricter stance on immigration and contentedness of kicking people out of the country, while Republicans see Democrats as “bleeding hearts” who are easily blinded by their emotions.
In a series of five studies, the researchers asked respondents to rate “the average Democrat” and “the average Republican” when it comes to compassion. Then, the subjects rated their own levels of compassion. Next, the researchers analyzed the data to see if a stereotype would be revealed where respondents exaggerated the differences in compassion between Democrats and Republicans when compared to actual group differences in compassion.
The researchers stated, “Overall, participants consistently rated the average Democrat as more compassionate than the average Republican,” suggesting that a stereotype is present.
This stereotype, however, did not match up to the interviewees’ self-reported compassion, as there was no consistent difference between the two groups when it came to their self-ratings. This suggests that the stereotype may not show real differences in compassion.
The researchers then conducted two field studies to see if these results would continue in a more political sample. These studies were conducted among Iowa voters during the 2016 Caucus and Pennsylvania voters during the U.S. Presidential Election. Again, the same stereotype surfaced, with Democrats being rated as more compassionate compared to Republicans. And, once more, Democrat respondents were found to show the extent that the average Democrat is more compassionate than the average Republican.
This is an interesting and eye-opening study that highlights to the American public which party is more closely related to empathy and sympathy. Which party do you believe has more compassion? Where and how does this align with your own political beliefs?