The mechanisms behind affective polarization between urban and rural citizens: place-based resentment and perceptions of differentness

Why do urban and rural citizens come to dislike each other? Answering this question is key amid growing evidence of urban-rural electoral and affective polarization. This article investigates the roots of urban-rural affective polarization using 2024 survey data from Belgium. It hypothesizes that place-based identity translates into urban-rural affective polarization through two distinct mediators: place-based resentment and perception of differentness. The article finds evidence of asymmetric urban-rural affective polarization, concentrated primarily among rural inhabitants. For rural residents, place-based identity translates into affective polarization through both higher place-based resentment and perception of differentness, with the latter mechanism explaining most of the variance in our models. For urban residents, by contrast, perception of differentness is the only mediating mechanism. These findings show that, in addition to resentment, feeling like a different kind of person is an important and more fundamental source of place-based affective polarization, pointing to different challenges for policymakers as well as avenues for future research.