Thursday, January 25, 2024

Democrats and Republicans don't seem to live in the same world

At least they don't see things the same way. Here is an example: 





Why? 

- Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says.

1 - American voters are less ideologically polarized than they think they are, and that misperception is greatest for the most politically engaged people.

2 - American politicians are highly ideologically polarized. In other words, they believe in and vote for different sets of policies, with little overlap. This trend has grown in a steady, unpunctuated manner for decades.

3 - Even though Americans are not as ideologically polarized as they believe themselves to be, they are emotionally polarized (known as “affective polarization”). In other words, they do not like members of the other party.

4 - Affective polarization is unlikely to be causing democratic backsliding or political violence on its own. The problem is not polarized emotions alone but how those feelings interact with voting systems, candidate incentives, and personal relationships.

5 - Similarly, affective polarization is not causing political violence directly. It is probably contributing to an environment that allows politicians and opinion leaders to increase violence targeted at politicians, election officials, women, and many types of minorities.

- From the Pew Research Center: A Deep Dive Into Party Affiliation.

Democrats hold advantages in party identification among blacks, Asians, Hispanics, well-educated adults and Millennials. Republicans have leads among whites – particularly white men, those with less education and evangelical Protestants – as well as members of the Silent Generation.