What makes certain American television shows popular with either liberals or conservatives?

What is it about?

Survey data reveals that certain television shows are disproportionately watched by either liberals or conservatives, even though the shows have no obvious political content. What is it about these shows that divides audiences along ideological lines? Using a team of professional film/TV critics to rate the shows on a number of traits, I find that liberals tend to prefer programs that: (1) are stylistically novel; (2) have plotlines that extend across multiple episodes; (3) have characters of ambiguous/nuanced morality; (4) feature diverse casts; and (5) have elements of “vulgarity.” By contrast, conservatives tend to prefer shows that: (1) are conventional/predictable in their style and structure; (2) have plots that are neatly contained within individual episodes; (3) feature clear “good guys” and “bad guys”; (4) have relatively homogenous casts; and (5) are “wholesome” in subject matter.

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Why is it important?

Left unchecked, political polarization can paralyze governments and destabilize societies. One driver of such polarization is the phenomenon of “cultural sorting,” where people segregate themselves into “bubbles” or “echo chambers” in which they are surrounded by viewpoints similar to their own, and shielded from challenging points of view. But it is not well understood how this sorting operates. How do people choose which elements of culture to seek out, and which to avoid? By studying the substance of cultural items that are known to be polarizing, we can better understand the dynamics of our divisions.

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