Rethinking political identity in Europe: Partisan and ideological attachments in times of affective polarization

Affective polarization—the hostility between opposing political groups—has increasingly become a concern in Western Europe, even as the partisan identities that once structured such divisions have weakened. We argue that this apparent paradox can be reconciled by introducing a novel typology of political identity specific to multiparty systems, emphasizing ideological camps as a central structure through which polarization unfolds. It goes beyond a simple dichotomy of partisans vs non-partisans and distinguishes between non-identifiers , ideologues , partisan ideologues , and partisans . Using cross-national survey data from eleven European democracies (N = 10,782), we show that ideological camps are part of the political identity of a clear majority of citizens. Partisanship alone thus only partially captures citizens’ political identity in multiparty contexts. Our findings further demonstrate that affective polarization increases with narrower political identification, with partisans being the most polarized. This more nuanced understanding of political identification and affective polarization aimed multiparty democracies could aid interventions in at fostering more cross-party dialogue.