
SOMETHING IS BROKEN in our politics. Just about everyone knows it, but it can be hard to put your finger on what it is.
As the media attempt to grapple with this felt reality, they reach over and over for the same word: polarization. That, we’re told, is the shorthand for what has gone wrong. Where once the country had its share of conservative Democrats, liberal Republicans, and mushy moderates, today the two parties are more internally consolidated—and further apart from each other—than ever.
But what if that explanation is missing something? What if there’s a sense in which left and right are actually converging, and the nature of that convergence is the real source of the perception that something isn’t right?
In 2014, Pew Research Center released a report on the crisis of polarization. “The overall share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades,” it explained. “Today, 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican.”
According to the report, as the center of gravity within each party shifted out toward the extremes (ideological polarization), dislike and distrust of those on the other side of the aisle increased as well (affective polarization). We disagree on more than ever and like each other less than ever. There you have it: the recipe for toxic politics.
Yet by 2021, Pew had settled on a different framework for understanding the American political landscape. In a major report released last fall, the think tank introduced a political typology that focuses attention on the divisions within the left and right.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2022-Ausgabe von Reason magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2022-Ausgabe von Reason magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden

Rise of the Samurai Lawyers
HOW A STABLE AND RELATIVELY JUST LEGAL ORDER EMERGED IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN

How Sanctions Backfire
IF THERE’S ONE part of foreign policy where President Donald Trump has been consistent, it’s economic sanctions on Iran.

How To Get Rid of a Tenured Professor
TOO OFTEN, POLITICAL ADVOCACY TRUMPS RESEARCH IN SCIENCE.

TRUMP'S DRAMATIC CROSSROADS
WILL PROTECTIONISM OR DYNAMISM SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY?

AI Isn't Destabilizing Elections
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PESSIMISTS, take note: New research suggests that fears about AI tools destabilizing elections through political misinformation may be overblown.

Trump Tests the Limits of Executive Orders
WELL BEFORE PRESIDENT Donald Trump returned to office, his supporters boasted that he would start the second term with a flurry of executive actions.

The American Right Is Abandoning Mises
THE AUSTRIAN ECONOMIST’S PRINCIPLED THOUGHT ONCE SERVED AS A CHECK ON THE INTELLECTUAL RIGHT.

Trump's War on the Press
A MONTH BEFORE last November’s presidential election, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris that was edited to make her response to a question about Israel “more succinct,” as the show’s producers put it.

WHEN THE GOVERNMENT PUTS WOLVES IN YOUR BACKYARD
ENDANGERED RED WOLVES BECAME A SYMBOL OF FEDERAL OVERREACH-AND A TARGET FOR LOCAL IRE-IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

Biden Rushed Billions Out Before Trump Took Office
ON PRESIDENT JOE Biden’s way out the door, officials in his administration were busy—not just packing up their offices, but shoveling as much money as possible before incoming President Donald Trump could get his hands on it.