Why We Disagree About What Matters

We often assume political polarization is about beliefs or party loyalty—but what if it’s about which issues we think are worth caring about?

In this episode, behavioral scientists Adrienne Kafka (Duke University) and Troy Campbell (On Your Feet, formerly Disney Imagineering and Netflix) unpack their research on issue salience polarization—how our sense of an issue’s importance changes depending on the solutions attached to it.

They explain how “solution aversion” and “solution attraction” make people minimize or exaggerate problems based on their preferred policies, and why partisans often agree on an issue’s seriousness until political solutions enter the picture.

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Intro music and outro music by Michael Ramir C.

Many thanks to my co-editor and co-director, Austin Chen.