- Click here for the article.
The top seven reasons:
1. The share of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled over the past two decades, from 10% to 21%.
2. Partisan antipathy has risen.
3. “Ideological silos” are now common on the right and, to a lesser extent, the left. About six-in-ten (63%) consistent conservatives and 49% of consistent liberals say most of their close friends share their political views.
4. Differences between the right and left go beyond politics.
5. The center has gotten smaller: 39% of Americans currently take a roughly equal number of liberal and conservative positions, down from 49% in surveys conducted in 1994 and 2004.
6. The most ideologically oriented Americans make their voices heard through greater participation in every stage of the political process.
7. To those on the ideological right and left, compromise now means that their side gets more of what it wants.
