Are We Misreading the Intentions of Our Opponents?

I'm wondering how much of the daily partisan rancor that we hear is shaped by misreading the intentions of our opponents. We are not just taking what they say do at face value, but we're reading into it what we assume to be their intentions. A lot of times people engage in this wilful misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the minds of people on the other side. But then in a lot of cases, i think this happens sort of automatically and unconsciously, we give people that we know and like the benefit of the doubt.