Partisan Asymmetry in Ideological Incongruence Over Time

The American public's ideological inconsistency is well documented, but how has it changed over time, and how do these changes vary by partisanship? Drawing on the 2014-2024 Cooperative Election Study, we define two types of ideological incongruence: within-operational incongruence, referring to inconsistencies across an individual's policy positions, and symbolic-operational incongruence, referring to misalignment between ideological self-identification on the liberal-conservative spectrum and policy preferences. Both types of incongruence are higher for Republicans but exhibit divergent temporal patterns. Within-operational incongruence among Republicans has increased sharply while remaining stable for Democrats. In contrast, symbolic-operational incongruence is decreasing for both parties. Together, we find a growing asymmetry: while symbolic identities have become more tightly aligned with partisan cues, policy preferences, particularly among Republicans, have grown increasingly fragmented. These findings call for renewed attention to the meaning of ideological labels and highlight the need to distinguish two types of ideological incongruence.