Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Diversity and Division in Advanced Economies
Public views of political conflict generally align with expert ratings of polarization
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- Diversity and Division in Advanced Economies
- Increasing shares see diversity positively
- Perceptions of conflict between groups much higher in South Korea and U.S., especially between those who support different political parties
- Around half or more in several publics say people do not agree on basic facts
- Views of COVID-19’s effect on unity factor into views of political conflict
- Perceived strength of societal conflicts varies widely
- Democrats more likely to see most societal conflicts, though both parties see partisan ones
- Political divisions in France regarding strength of conflicts
- Few in Singapore say there are conflicts, though perceptions differ by ethnic and religious identity
- Younger people more likely to see benefits of diversity
- Many believe their society to be better off with people of many backgrounds
- Larger shares see benefits of diversity in 2021 than in 2017
- Right-wing populist party supporters less likely to say a diverse society is a better place to live
- Discrimination based on race and ethnicity considered to be a problem
- Younger people more likely to think racial or ethnic discrimination is a very serious problem
- Ideological left more concerned about racial and ethnic discrimination
- Those in U.S., South Korea and France see more conflict in their societies
- Americans and Koreans see strong tensions between political parties
- Younger Europeans see more conflict between political party supporters
- Public views of political conflict generally align with expert ratings of polarization
- Sizable shares in U.S., France and Italy see very strong ethnic conflicts
- Many do not see strong religious tensions in their society
- Most do not see conflicts between those who live in urban vs. rural areas
- Views vary internationally regarding whether people agree on basic facts
- Population distribution by type of region
- Political polarization index scores
- Share of lower chamber seats by party
- Estimated religious composition, 2020
- Ethnic and racial composition of the 17 advanced economies surveyed
- Appendix: Political categorization
- European populist party classifications
- American Trends Panel recruitment surveys
- Invitation and reminder dates
- Weighting dimensions
- Unweighted sample sizes and error attributable to sampling
- Final dispositions
- Cumulative response rate