… Past research has shown that partisans will often perceive the same events—from a hostage crisis abroad to objective markers of an improving economy at home—in completely divergent ways based on their preconceived and firmly held political convictions. The partisan lens through which many view the social and political world also impacts perceptions of discrimination: as the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2015 American Values Survey shows, Democrats and Republicans have a very different understanding of the nature of discrimination in the U.S. today—and who are the most likely targets of it. CONT.
Rachel Lienesch & Betsy Cooper (PRRI), Brookings Institution