At the end of this election campaign, do you have the impression that the United States is more polarized than ever? That the gap is widening between Democrats and Republicans? So much so that a Democratic candidate, even a moderate one, almost automatically repels the Republican electorate, and vice versa for a moderate Republican candidate? It’s not an impression.
Posted at 1:36 a.m.
Updated at 6:00 a.m.
It is calculated that approximately 88% of Americans identify directly or indirectly with one of the two major parties. However, all these people, Democrats and Republicans alike, have an increasingly unfavorable opinion of the other party, according to data from the American National Election Studies. In 1978, they had a relatively correct opinion of the other political party: on a score of 100, they gave it 48, compared to 71 for the party with which they identified.
In 2020, they gave the other party a score of only… 19. It’s just as well to say that they distrusted it like the plague. Even more alarming: half of this fall took place between 2012 and 2020. This dizzying degree of polarization has harmful consequences: it tends to dehumanize the other political family and makes the political system less functional.
“The two parties are much more different than before. It’s more difficult for elected officials from both parties to work together and govern under these circumstances,” said Matthew Tyler, professor of political science at Rice University. All this is not reassuring…
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