Is Harry Potter a Tory? Why people believe fictional heroes share their political views

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Vienna found that people in the UK tend to believe that fictional heroes like Harry Potter and Gandalf share their political views, while villains like Darth Vader and Cruella de Vil would support opposing parties, leading to increased political polarisation. The tendency to project personal views onto fictional characters also extended to real-life politicians, with participants associating positive attributes with politicians from their preferred party and negative attributes with the opposition. Dr. Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte warned that this bias not only fuels polarisation but also makes individuals more susceptible to misinformation that confirms existing biases, based on a survey of 3,200 individuals in the UK and US regarding the political party preferences of characters from popular franchises.

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