Polarization Of Polarized Politics

The start of modern polarized politics can be traced back to one man, Newt Gingrich. In the 1994 campaign, he strategized and used his super PAC to send out instructions to practically every running republican candidate. The instructions were packed full of buzzwords and campaign promises that would draw the most voters to the republican side. With the help of Newt Gingrich, republicans swept the House and Senate (Grillon). Unfortunately, the politicians who had followed gingrich’s instructions had become a little too devoted, making themselves extreme ideologues who were unwilling to compromise on anything (Richardson). Thus, the age of polarization had begun, with each party becoming more and more ideolic to keep up with the other.
As political parties have evolved over time, the leaders of the democratic and republican parties have structured the party’s platform more and more on an ideological basis (Carmines). This polarization of the parties leads to polarization in congress, with the difference in ideology of republicans and democrats in the house of representatives rising from 0.390 to 0.748 on the DW-Nominate scale, which measures the ideological position of a person. Due to this rise in the polarization of the elite, the public has become more polarized as well, so much so that a party endorsement carries more weight than a strong argument when attempting to sway voters (Druckman). Elite polarization seems to be the main cause of political
We can already see one symptom of polarization occurring in america today, with the rise of new political factions such as the Alt-Right and Antifa, and the growing tensions between them. The conflict between these groups at rallies such as in Charlottesville, Virginia, has also fed into the media an idea of war between ideologies (Dubenko). The left versus right, republican versus democrat story shown to the people in echo chambers served only to further divide the right and left, leading to stronger polarization and animosity between