Partisan sorting is an effect in politics in which voters sort themselves into parties that match their ideology. Partisan sorting is distinct from

political polarization Political polarization (spelled ''polarisation'' in British English) is the divergence of political attitudes away from the center, towards ideological extremes. Most discussions of polarization in political science consider polarization in the c ...

, which is where partisans subscribe to increasingly extreme positions. As political scientist

Nolan McCarty Nolan Matthew McCarty (born December 10, 1967 in Odessa, Texas) is an American political scientist specializing in U.S. politics, democratic political institutions, and political methodology. He has made notable contributions to the study of partis ...

explains, "party sorting can account for the increased differences across partisans even if the distribution of...attitudes in the population remains unchanged or moves uniformly in one direction or the other." As an example given by McCarty, the gap between the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

on views towards immigrants strengthening the country with hard work and talents has widened from a 2-point gap in 1994 to a 42-point gap in 2017. A reasonable explanation is that of partisan sorting: those who are pro-immigrant shifted into the Democratic party and immigration-restrictions have shifted towards the Republican party. According to McCarty, this explains the widening gap between the two parties, considering how pro-immigration viewpoints between the two surveys have increased by 35% since 1994.

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Partisan sorting is used as a potential explainer for how in recent decades the Democratic Party has become more liberal while the Republican Party has become more conservative. One school of thought led by

Morris Fiorina Morris P. Fiorina (born 1946) is an American political scientist and co-author of the book '' Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America'' with Jeremy C. Pope (Brigham Young University). Biography Fiorina received his B.A. from Allegheny Coll ...

concludes most of the change from ideological partisan sorting, with polarization having little effect or being solely limited to the political elites. Conversely, another school of thought led by

Alan Abramowitz Alan Ira Abramowitz (born December 1, 1947) is an American political scientist and author, known for his research and writings on American politics, elections in the United States, and political parties in the United States. Early life Abramowitz ...

challenges this and says sorting itself is a reflection of political polarization and that both the elites and the public have become increasingly polarized. A form of partisan sorting is geographic sorting, which alleges that people decide to move into communities that match their party. Research by political scientists in 2012 found that people prefer to relocate to areas with copartisans, though it was unsure if it was a central or secondary factor. Research conducted in 2016 concluded that political compatibility is not a significant factor in deciding where to live.

References

{{reflist, 30em Politics

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See also

References