Me Against Myself: How Right-Partisan Media Use Predicts Support for Redistribution Across Class and Partisan Identities

Abstract

Despite rising economic inequality in the United States, lower-class Americans have yet to demand economic redistribution in overwhelming numbers. Analysis of the 2020 American National Election Study finds that right-partisan media use is associated with lower support for redistributive policies, and this relationship is strongest among individuals who identify as lower-class or Independent. We also found the relationship between right-partisan media use and taxing the rich was strongest among lower-class Republicans and upper-class Democrats. We discuss the potential for right-partisan media to breed system-justifying beliefs and shape opposition to economic redistribution among those who might benefit most from such policies.

Keywords

economic inequality public opinion partisan media social identity theory

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