Penn professor finds increase in political conversations between like-minded people, intolerance

In a new study, Penn political science and communications professor Diana Mutz found that political conversations between like-minded people have increased, leading to greater nationwide polarization.

Mutz conducted the study earlier this month by comparing pre-election surveys. Her research found that homogenous American political networks are larger than ever — and lead citizens to become “even more sure of our own views and intolerant of others’ views.”

“The amount of like-minded conversation that we are having is swamping that already small amount of cross-cutting connection,” Mutz said to Penn Today.

Mutz, who is also the director of Penn’s Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics, compared similar pre-election surveys from 1996 and 2020.

“Findings suggest widespread increases in political discussion, changes driven almost entirely by increases in like-minded political discussion partners,” Mutz wrote within the study. “Surprisingly, Americans are no more or less likely to engage in conversations across lines of political difference.”

Mutz added that humans are “first and foremost social beings,” who “don’t like to lose friends or offend other people.”

“It’s very reassuring to be surrounded by like-minded others, and you feel more free to promote the views that you hold,” she said.

Moreover, Mutz found that most of the political conversations that occurred happened offline, calling the discussions a “spectator sport on social media.”

The study also found that the increasing political conversations coincided with a decrease in political tolerance, reporting that Americans were 9% less willing to “uphold the civil liberties of disliked political groups” in comparison to 1996.

Mutz told Penn Today that there has been a recent increase in initiatives to promote discussion across political lines, even though such conversations hadn’t necessarily declined.

Previously, Mutz conducted a study about the influence of abortion opinions on the 2022 elections and discussed factors that led to 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump’s presidential victory in November 2024.

“I think politics at its very best is a means to an end,” she said in the discussion. “It’s a means to having a time to pursue interests and concerns in our lives, and I think going home to enjoy time with our families and not constantly talking about politics is an acceptable choice.”