Political polarization in the United States

"Asymmetric polarization" redirects here. For asymmetric polarization in American news media, see Media bias in the United States.

One year after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, American Facebook users on the political right and political left shared almost no common interests.

Political polarization is a prominent component of politics in the United States.[1] Scholars distinguish between ideological polarization (differences between the policy positions) and affective polarization (a dislike and distrust of political out-groups), both of which are apparent in the United States.[2][3][4] In the last few decades, the U.S. has experienced a greater surge in ideological polarization and affective polarization than comparable democracies.[5]

Differences in political ideals and policy goals are indicative of a healthy democracy.[6] Scholarly questions consider changes in the magnitude of political polarization over time, the extent to which polarization is a feature of American politics and society,[7] and whether there has been a shift away from focusing on triumphs to dominating the perceived abhorrent supporters of the opposing party.[6]

Polarization among U.S. legislators is asymmetric, as it has primarily been driven by a rightward shift among Republicans in Congress.[8][9][10][11] Polarization has increased since the 1970s, with rapid increases in polarization during the 2000s onwards.[12] According to the Pew Research Center, members of both parties who have unfavorable opinions of the opposing party have doubled since 1994,[13] while those who have very unfavorable opinions of the opposing party are at record highs as of 2022.[14]

  1. ^ Heltzel, Gordon; Laurin, Kristin (August 2020). "Polarization in America: two possible futures". Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 34: 179–184. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.03.008. ISSN 2352-1546. PMC 7201237. PMID 32391408.
  2. ^ Iyengar, Shanto; Lelkes, Yphtach; Levendusky, Matthew; Malhotra, Neil; Westwood, Sean J. (2019). "The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States". Annual Review of Political Science. 22 (1): 129–146. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034. ISSN 1094-2939. S2CID 102523958.
  3. ^ Iyengar, Shanto (2022), Sibley, Chris G.; Osborne, Danny (eds.), "Fear and Loathing in American Politics: A Review of Affective Polarisation", The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology, Cambridge University Press, pp. 399–413, ISBN 978-1-108-48963-8
  4. ^ Finkel, Eli J.; Bail, Christopher A.; Cikara, Mina; Ditto, Peter H.; Iyengar, Shanto; Klar, Samara; Mason, Lilliana; McGrath, Mary C.; Nyhan, Brendan; Rand, David G.; Skitka, Linda J.; Tucker, Joshua A.; Van Bavel, Jay J.; Wang, Cynthia S.; Druckman, James N. (October 30, 2020). "Political sectarianism in America". Science. 370 (6516): 533–536. doi:10.1126/science.abe1715. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 33122374.
  5. ^ Boxell, Levi; Gentzkow, Matthew; Shapiro, Jesse M. (2022). "Cross-Country Trends in Affective Polarization". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 106 (2): 557–565. doi:10.1162/rest_a_01160. ISSN 0034-6535. S2CID 246583807.
  6. ^ a b Finkel, Eli J.; Bail, Christopher A.; Cikara, Mina; Ditto, Peter H.; Iyengar, Shanto; Klar, Samara; Mason, Lilliana; McGrath, Mary C.; Nyhan, Brendan; Rand, David G.; Skitka, Linda J. (October 30, 2020). "Political sectarianism in America". Science. 370 (6516): 533–536. doi:10.1126/science.abe1715. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 33122374.
  7. ^ Pierson, Paul; Schickler, Eric (2020). "Madison's Constitution Under Stress: A Developmental Analysis of Political Polarization". Annual Review of Political Science. 23: 37–58. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-033629.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Moskowitz, Daniel J.; Rogowski, Jon C.; Jr, James M. Snyder (2024). "Parsing Party Polarization in Congress". Quarterly Journal of Political Science. 19 (4): 357–385. doi:10.1561/100.00022039. ISSN 1554-0626.
  11. ^ DeSilver, Drew (March 10, 2022). "The polarization in today's Congress has roots that go back decades". Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  12. ^ Grumbach, Jacob M. (2018). "From Backwaters to Major Policymakers: Policy Polarization in the States, 1970–2014". Perspectives on Politics. 16 (2): 416–435. doi:10.1017/S153759271700425X. ISSN 1537-5927.
  13. ^ Doherty, Carroll (June 17, 2014). "Which party is more to blame for political polarization? It depends on the measure". Pew Research Center. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  14. ^ "How Democrats and Republicans see each other". The Economist. August 17, 2022. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved August 18, 2022.