The Effect of Partisanship and Political Advertising on Close Family Ties

TL;DR

This study reveals that political polarization and advertising significantly shorten family Thanksgiving dinners, especially in election years, highlighting the private social costs of political conflict.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis linking political partisanship, advertising, and private family interactions using smartphone location data.

Findings

Thanksgiving dinners with opposing-party attendees are 30-50 minutes shorter.

Political advertising during elections correlates with increased dinner shortening.

Cross-partisan discourse time decreased by 34 million person-hours in 2016.

Abstract

Research on growing American political polarization and antipathy primarily studies public institutions and political processes, ignoring private effects including strained family ties. Using anonymized smartphone-location data and precinct-level voting, we show that Thanksgiving dinners attended by opposing-party precinct residents were 30-50 minutes shorter than same-party dinners. This decline from a mean of 257 minutes survives extensive spatial and demographic controls. Dinner reductions in 2016 tripled for travelers from media markets with heavy political advertising --- an effect not observed in 2015 --- implying a relationship to election-related behavior. Effects appear asymmetric: while fewer Democratic-precinct residents traveled in 2016 than 2015, political differences shortened Thanksgiving dinners more among Republican-precinct residents. Nationwide, 34 million person-hours of cross-partisan Thanksgiving discourse were lost in 2016 to partisan effects.