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Title: Not YOU in My Backyard: Identity-driven Animosity, Social Distance, and Social Desirability Bias – Evidence from the USA

Abstract: We investigate how social identity and social distance affect animosity towards out-group members, and the extent to which social desirability bias (SDB) distorts expressed preferences. A theoretical model predicts an inverted U-shaped relationship between social distance and out-group animosity, as well as the conditions for a negative relationship between social distance and SDB. We find that for far enough social distance, both animosity and SDB decline. To test these predictions, we conduct an online experiment in the United States implementing direct survey questions as well as a list experiment. We evaluate respondents’ willingness to accept an out-group member with less social distance (a Republican or a Democrat) versus with far social distance (a Chinese Communist Party sympathizer) as a neighbor or as a colleague. We find substantial true animosity toward domestic political opponents (45.6%), whereas true animosity toward CCP sympathizers is significantly lower (35.9%). Respondents exhibit strong positive SDB toward domestic opponents (16.1%), overreporting their animosity in direct settings. In contrast, SDB drops significantly regarding CCP sympathizers (6.8%). These findings closely align with our theoretical predictions, confirming that far social distance attenuates both out-group animosity and social image concerns. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that Democrats display significantly higher domestic animosity (59.7% true, 80.5% stated) and SDB (20.8%) than Republicans (31.5% true, 43.0% stated; 11.5% SDB). Furthermore, residing in politically competitive swing states markedly reduces expressed animosity and alters SDB. This study contributes to the literature of identity economics and political polarization by providing a unified framework that disentangles genuine identity-driven hostility from social image concerns. It also shows that domestic partisan-divides generate far greater behavioral friction and social pressure than distant geopolitical rivalries, at least in the USA.