I’ve done a lot of research on the psychological and individual reasons of why America is so divided politically today. However, I wanted to look more into the broader external changes in our country that have led America to have such polarizing politics. I found an article that listed fourteen reasons of what caused political polarization, and I wanted to analyze and share some of those reasons.  

The first reason listed was the end of the Cold War. Due to a lack of a uniting threat, America has the ability to divide. This is similar to the 9/11 attacks, however they happened almost two decades ago (anyone under 17 was not alive during 9/11). Since there is no external threat, the internal issues can boil and create divides while there is nothing external that is uniting the country.

Diversity within religions, races, and ethics have also lead to polarization. America is become less religious, which seems like a threat to religious people, causing the drive for the conservation of religious ideals and the religious population in America. Many of the most polarizing social issues in politics, like LGBT rights and abortion, are based on religion and the values of religion changes the way people talk about politics. When people’s values differ (because of religious differences) their ability to agree with the other side lessens because it is not an opinion that differs but rather a fundamental value of a person’s being. Christians are less likely to agree with non-religious citizens about abortion because they both have different views and values on life (Christians believe that life begins in the womb which many others  believe life begins after birth. The value of life differs and there is not science that can prove one value, rather it can prove a definition). Racial and ethnic diversity has also led to a loss in social trust.

Geography also has an effect on polarization. Many Americans live with like-minded people in communities that for the most part share political beliefs. Because of this, it is easier for Americans to be more extreme or certain about their beliefs; if they never interact with people that disagree with them, they’re likely not to change their mind. The article has a statistic that shows that in 1976, 25% of American voters lived in counties where a presidential candidate won by a “landslide” margin of 20% or more, meanwhile in 2016 the number was 60%.

An idea that I had heard of for the first time today is political party sorting. Today, there are just liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, to the point where the words are almost interchangeable. In the past, there were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, so the gap between parties grows as the parties become more and more sorted. According to the Pew Research Center in 2017, “Across 10 measures that Pew Research Center has tracked on the same surveys since 1994, the average partisan gap has increased from 15 percentage points to 36 points.”

Social media has a huge effect on politics and polarization. Anyone can post anything online, and many people tend to follow like-minded people on social media. Because of this, comparable to the community effect, people can become more extreme in their views. The internet is one of the causes of political extremism, because it surrounds us and makes it easy for people to be exposed to radical ideas.

I also looked at a second article that lists three reasons of why political polarization is “here to stay.” One of their reasons was close elections. Parties in congress became more competitive, leading to more of a divide between parties. With the Trump election, people felt more divided because the election was so close, leading for people to either become very pro Trump, or very against him.

There are a lot of external causes that affect our politically divided country. I think as we grow up and start to become the people that change our society, we need to make sure that we focus on the issues, and not the parties. We can look at what has lead to the divide in our country, and learn to help bring our country back together. By being understanding and having productive conversations with people that have differing views, I think that we can start to repair the political damages that our country has endured.

Citations:

Blankenhorn, David. “The Top 14 Causes of Political Polarization.” The American Interest, 17 May 2018, www.the-american-interest.com/2018/05/16/the-top-14-causes-of-political-polarization/.
Mansbridge, Jane. “Three Reasons Political Polarization Is Here to Stay.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Mar. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/03/11/three-reasons-political-polarization-is-here-to-stay/?utm_term=.c4e1bd918634.