Multidimensional Political Attitudes and Polarization Across 141 Countries

arXiv:2609.30320v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Societies worldwide are described as increasingly polarized, yet issue polarization -- how divided a society is over political positions -- has been measured almost entirely on a single left-right axis developed in Western democracies. Whether that axis describes political division elsewhere is largely untested, because no survey measures political attitudes on multiple dimensions across many countries. Here, we harmonize 1,299 items from nine cross-national survey programs and 23 national election studies to place 1.14 million people from 141 countries on four dimensions: social liberalism, economic left-right, democratic commitment, and anti-elite sentiment. A single left-right axis does not describe political division in most of the world. The median within-country correlation between a person's social and economic positions is -0.015. Societies differ instead in what they are divided about, and they do so by region. European countries divide most often over social liberalism, East Asian and Arab countries over democratic commitment, Latin American countries over economic left-right, and African countries over anti-elite sentiment. Of the 81 countries measured on all four dimensions, 39 are most divided on a dimension no left-right scale would capture. Most political disagreement lies within countries rather than between them, at 58 to 88 percent of the variance. Ideological constraint, long treated as a property of mass publics, holds in nineteen of the eighty-three we can test, most strongly in the United States at +0.7

No direct AI implication

This is a social science measurement study about political attitudes, not about AI's effect on society. It contains no claim about artificial intelligence's role in polarization or human flourishing tied to AI systems.

This academic paper presents a new methodology for measuring political polarization across multiple dimensions and countries. It describes current societal conditions and proposes a refined analytical framework, but it does not make substantive claims about AI's role or impact on these trends.

The study provides a nuanced view of global political polarization, challenging the single left-right axis. This understanding could lead to more effective political strategies and policies. The implications for AI are indirect but positive, as better data and models of political attitudes could improve AI-driven political analysis and policy recommendations.

SOURCE     arXiv cs.CY (Computers and Society) (tier 1)
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DOCUMENT   54de8bee-55d8-4d04-8457-10d08c86e1d8
           https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.30320
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EVIDENCE   1 extracted excerpt
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MODEL RUN  4 runs, methodology 1.0.1
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SCORE      -34  (Adverse)
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CONFIDENCE 61%