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We are a cross-university research lab (Dartmouth College, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University). The lab exists to serve as a nexus for work on affective polarization, social trust, and political violence.

Our lab focuses on addressing the following critical questions:

  • What are the principal causes of affective polarization and what can be done to treat it?
  • When and where does affective polarization alter behavior? Why?
  • How effective and durable are approaches to reducing affective polarization?

Explore what we do

America’s Political Pulse

Plot and analyze trends in American political animosity measured with out data. Free and open datasets are also available.

Apply for survey time

Similar in spirit to TESS, we are looking for innovative work on polarization, democratic/social norms, and political violence (all broadly defined).  Proposals will be evaluated solely on scientific merit and will be awarded based on available survey space.  Selected proposals will be fielded on YouGov as part of our weekly tracking survey.

Annual meeting

At our meetings we bring together established scholars, graduate students, community groups and funders for a conference designed to highlight emerging academic work and to develop a network of academics and practitioners focused on the problem of partisan animosity.

Latest news

PRL First Annual Meeting Convenes Top Scholars on Partisan Animosity
The Polarization Research Lab hosted its First Annual Meeting in collaboration with the Hoover Institution on March 2-3, 2023. Fifty-five attendees enjoyed an instructive two days of research and …
PRL Announces Launch of Interactive Data Explorer
The Lab is excited to announce a new interactive Data Explorer for visualizing the America’s Political Pulse survey data. One of the Lab’s core goals is providing free and …
Perceived vs. Actual Support for Political Violence
When it comes to many aspects of partisan animosity, Americans have remarkably inaccurate views on the other side, but nowhere is this clearer than with support for political violence. …
Where Do Election Skeptics See Fraud Determining Election Results?
We asked our respondents in a period of three weeks after the election in which states they thought fraud determined the 2022 midterm outcome. Among those who think fraud …
Views on the Accuracy of the 2022 Midterms
We asked people about the accuracy of the 2022 midterms before and after the election. On average, Democrats always agreed that the election would/will reflect the preferences of those who …