Political Polarization In American Politics
Chapters 10 through 12 in Political Polarization in American Politics explain what causes polarization and who is involved. This reading supports the ideas from chapter four which says that politics has become polarized on more issues than before due to conflict extension. Both Congress and the voters are deeply polarized, driven by two major factors, coming from a change in government and social interactions as well as a “long-term realignment”. Therefore, polarization comes from previous political beliefs and alignments, splitting Republican and Democratic opinions on how much government interaction should be present on policies such as welfare, tax cuts, and Obamacare. Increased competition leads to higher stakes in every political dispute,
especially when small advantages could lead to the win or loss of a majority in the House or Senate. Both ideas and competition are used to gain more power leads in today’s “contemporary politics”, making partisanship worse. Religion and race also contribute to polarization. Figure 19 on page 81 shows the growing ethnic diversity of the electorate, impacting the support for political parties. A major spike in diverse Democratic supporters occurred from late 1990s into 2010, reaching nearly 50% nonwhite voters. Also, in 2012, 69% of white Republicans said they went to church weekly. “These political scientists may have just discovered why U.S. politics are a disaster” explains that the gap in today’s society between the rich and the poor also causes deeper political polarization. While other readings believe that polarization continues to increase, “American politics has reached peak polarization” states that peak polarization has been reached, meaning that fights are occurring within political parties which will lead to a realignment of the parties. Overall, ethnicity, religion, government interactions, and social beliefs impact the level of political polarization in America.
Questions:
1. What impact does the movement of the Republican party towards the right have on the separation between the two political parties?
2. How could inequality lead to further political polarization, and does a change in the partisan balance have anything to do with impacting inequality or polarization?
3. Why would fighting within political parties limit the amount of polarization that occurs overall, leading to “peak polarization”, and does this mean that in the future realigning the political parties could decrease the amount of polarization in America?
especially when small advantages could lead to the win or loss of a majority in the House or Senate. Both ideas and competition are used to gain more power leads in today’s “contemporary politics”, making partisanship worse. Religion and race also contribute to polarization. Figure 19 on page 81 shows the growing ethnic diversity of the electorate, impacting the support for political parties. A major spike in diverse Democratic supporters occurred from late 1990s into 2010, reaching nearly 50% nonwhite voters. Also, in 2012, 69% of white Republicans said they went to church weekly. “These political scientists may have just discovered why U.S. politics are a disaster” explains that the gap in today’s society between the rich and the poor also causes deeper political polarization. While other readings believe that polarization continues to increase, “American politics has reached peak polarization” states that peak polarization has been reached, meaning that fights are occurring within political parties which will lead to a realignment of the parties. Overall, ethnicity, religion, government interactions, and social beliefs impact the level of political polarization in America.
Questions:
1. What impact does the movement of the Republican party towards the right have on the separation between the two political parties?
2. How could inequality lead to further political polarization, and does a change in the partisan balance have anything to do with impacting inequality or polarization?
3. Why would fighting within political parties limit the amount of polarization that occurs overall, leading to “peak polarization”, and does this mean that in the future realigning the political parties could decrease the amount of polarization in America?