Department of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
Department of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Oct 3;114(40):10612-10617. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1706588114. Epub 2017 Sep 19.
We combine eight previously proposed measures to construct an index of political polarization among US adults. We find that polarization has increased the most among the demographic groups least likely to use the Internet and social media. Our overall index and all but one of the individual measures show greater increases for those older than 65 than for those aged 18-39. A linear model estimated at the age-group level implies that the Internet explains a small share of the recent growth in polarization.
我们综合了之前提出的八项指标，构建了一个针对美国成年人的政治极化指数。我们发现，在最不可能使用互联网和社交媒体的人群中，极化程度的上升幅度最大。我们的总体指数和除一项之外的其他各项指标都显示，65 岁以上人群的增长幅度大于 18-39 岁人群。在年龄组层面上进行的线性模型估计表明，互联网只解释了近期极化现象增长的一小部分原因。
