Does democratic and economic benchmarking matter for affective polarization? A survey experiment in Poland

This article examines whether international benchmarking, cross-national comparisons of a country’s democratic or economic performance, intensifies affective polarization among citizens. While prior research has shown that international economic comparisons shape electoral behavior, little is known about how such external evaluations influence emotional hostility between partisan groups. Drawing on a survey experiment conducted as part of the 2023 Polish National Election Study, the study tests whether exposure to negative international assessments increases affective polarization. The results reveal a striking asymmetry. Exposure to democratic benchmarking, information signaling Poland’s decline on democratic indicators relative to regional peers, significantly increases affective polarization, whereas economic benchmarking produces no comparable effect. These effects are conditional. Democratic benchmarking polarizes primarily among citizens with negative evaluations of the outgoing government, while leaving strong government supporters unaffected. The findings suggest that benchmarking is most polarizing when it concerns identity-relevant and normatively charged domains in which responsibility can be credibly attributed to domestic political actors. Overall, the study shows that international reputational cues can deepen partisan divides, reinforcing emotional boundaries between political camps rather than fostering a common ground for evaluating national performance.