Polarising punchlines: The influence of intergroup humour on affective political polarisation

How does political humour influence affective polarisation? In today’s media landscape, humour is increasingly used to ridicule political opponents, potentially deepening partisan divides. At the same time, humour may mitigate polarisation by evoking positive emotions and softening reactions to political critique. To date, it remains unclear whether intergroup political humour affects polarisation differently from equivalent non-humorous content. We address this question using a survey experiment in Great Britain ( n = 2011 ) with a 2×3 factorial design varying in message tone (humorous or non-humorous) and target (in-group, out-group or non-political). We find that serious in-group criticism increases affective polarisation, as measured by trait-based evaluations. Notably, this effect is significantly attenuated when the same messages are delivered humorously. Humour, therefore, reduces polarisation in situations that would otherwise provoke defensive reactions among group members. Mediation analyses provide suggestive evidence that this effect operates through increased message discounting and reduced negative emotional responses.