It seems like politics dominate our lives these days, and yet studies and surveys show that: As voters, we have a very distorted view of people who vote the other way. Distorted by social media algorithms, opinion-driven news, and national political divisions that give an exaggerated view of the other side. As a result, we believe our political counterparts have much more extreme views than most of them actually do.
This is what researchers call the "perception gap" of American politics. That's the gap between the views we think other voters hold on the issues and the messy reality of political overlap that really exists.
This video includes data from studies by More in Common and Beyond Conflict, as well as original Newsy/Ipsos survey findings.
Is the news too negative?
Many Americans say they avoid the news because it's often negative, but research shows humans tend to be more attentive to bad news.
