Has Political Violence Affected Americans’ Commitment to Democratic Participation? The Mitigating Role of Neighborhood Social Cohesion

ABSTRACT Objective This study examines whether political violence affects Americans’ commitment to democratic participation. It theorizes that political violence undermines citizens’ commitment to core democratic behaviors. However, neighborhood social cohesion mitigates the effect of political violence on reduced democratic participation. Methods The study employs an original online survey experiment of US residents that exposes treated subjects to information showing that political violence is increasing in the United States. It then measures subjects’ commitment to core democratic participatory behaviors. Treatment exposure is also interacted with an index measuring neighborhood social cohesion to test for moderation effects using ordinary least squares estimations. Demographic and attitudinal confounders are also considered in the analysis. Results The findings reveal that subjects treated with information showing that political violence is increasing in the United States are around 5.1% less likely to commit to democratic participation, compared with control group subjects. However, treated subjects from socially cohesive neighborhoods are around 162% more likely to respond to increased political violence by continuing to commit to democratic political participation. Conclusion The study illustrates how critical neighborhood social cohesion is to the preservation of democracy in an environment where political violence has become more ubiquitous, salient, and normalized.