The Aftermath Of The Disaster Of An Election

Politics have always tended to come between people, but in these past few years, politics have been driving people apart more. During the 2016 Presidential Election, many people thought either or both, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, were not good candidates and were not fit to be President of the United States. Democrats and Republicans have always had their separate beliefs on politics, but the 2016 election seemed to make much more of an impact on people. People did not like Trump for his beliefs, and also people did not like Clinton for her beliefs, and other things, including the emails. These politics caused people to divide from each other. Also, it has been ten months since the election, and

The United States has maintained its two party system for some time, but the major parties have not always been so clearly separated. In the early and mid-twentieth century, polarization was actually declining, as there was much ideological overlap between the members of the two parties (Kuo). Many people, such as conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, rested in the ideological middle. Additionally, each party represented a coalition of diverse interests. At

Increased shifts to the political extremes causes voters to vote in lockstep with party leaders. Polarized voters are less informed on energy, healthcare, education, and other key issues4. Polarized voters also ignore fundamental arguments in favor of partisanship. When told that their party endorsed a certain stance, the polarized voters became more supportive, regardless of facts. Because the election process requires

In the book, Culture War?, by Morris Fiorina, the myth of a polarized America is exposed. Fiorina covers issues such as why Americans believe that America is polarized, that Red and Blue State people aren’t as different as they are made out to be, and that the United States is not polarized along traditional cleavage lines. This book even covers perspectives on abortion, homosexuality, and whether or not electoral cleavages have shifted. A large point of Fiorina’s is his take on the 2004 election. He ends the book with, how did our great nation get to this position of proclaimed polarization, and how do we improve from here?

In the United States we are divided by the left and right side on the political spectrum; even further divided into political parties such as Republicans, on the right, and Democrats, on the left side. These two political parties show philosophical differences through their viewpoints on major topics such as the economy, separation of church and state, abortion, and gun control.

The changes between the parties have become more distinctive throughout the years. Some of these changes include preferences, behavior, increasing homogeneous districts, and increasing alignment between ideology and partisanship among voters.

Political polarization becomes apparent. Support among republicans drops 14% since 2014, while democratic opinion drops only 1%. The conservative wing of the Republican party sees the highest opposition at 57% (Henderson 9)

Amidst the past eight years of lackluster economic advancement, America’s prowess and respect declining worldwide, increasing government involvement in daily lives, and a President seemingly unwilling to take a solid stance on a the global threat of terrorism, the transfer of power between political parties in the White House is not so stunning. Due to the two-party system, this is not an unprecedented phenomenon. The American people are constantly seeking a political party to garner their attention and adapt to changing times, opinions, demographics, and attitudes (Cohen) and this results in the alternation of power between the two key political parties.

Many Americans are aware of the polarization that exists within them and within the government. However, people do not realize the extent of the polarization and the effect that it has on government functions. Susan Page, author of “Divided We Now Stand” explains that many Americans are aware of the increasing polarization, when a political party influences the stance of a person, and that citizens believe that polarization influence politicians more than it influence them. However, Page argues that voters are to blame as well. She uses a survey to illustrate the choices that Americans make on a certain policy. The results of the survey show that Democrats and Republicans choose the stance of their political party, regardless of their own personal opinions on the actual policy (Page). Page’s point proves that politicians are not the only ones that contribute to the government’s dysfunction, and that voters might want to re-evaluate how they process their information and their choices if they wish to see a change.

In their book, Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, political scientists Morris Fiorina, Samuel Abrams, and Jeremy Pope promote the idea that political polarization in the United States is an exaggerated perception. They provide ample evidence to contradict the notion that the attitudes of US citizens have become more sharply divided. However, arguing against polarization, the authors create a paradox within their own work by focusing on abortion, homosexuality, and religion. Despite this, their detailed analysis of voter surveys and political trends dismantled my assumptions of a nation divided along cultural lines. While

Polarization is a bit hard to define because the term is used to describe several things that are related, but not the same. A helpful definition that clarifies this is the one used by Kenneth A. Schultz in his essay “Perils of Polarization for U.S. Foreign Policy.” Schultz points out four “interrelated phenomena” that are part of the definition of polarization. (8-9) First, a lack of ideological overlap in Congress. This means that Democrats are almost always voting for liberal policies and Republicans

First, we can analyze the costs that Abramowitz associates that are bought about polarization being present among the political elites. The first cost is fairly obvious, with increased polarization, there are fewer moderates representing each party in the House. The term “Liberal Republican” or “Conservative Democrat” has all but seemingly disappeared over the past several decades. This is in part due to as previously mentioned, better party sorting amongst the electorate. Another cost that Abramowitz sheds some light on is the increased instances of divided party control of the government. As Abramowitz explains on page 161, due to the fact that the president is elected separately from Congress, there is always the possibility that one or both chambers of Congress that are a different party than the presidents. This leads too many issues, as one can imagine, legislation nearly coming to a complete halt, as each party has a different agenda that they would like to enact. This level of partisan gridlock or divided party control I think is perfectly illustrated as it relates to Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As the Washington Post reported, as of March 2014,

3. Three explanations for elite polarization are Economic Inequality, Nationalization, and Media Environment. The strengths of the economic inequality argument are that parties’ identification has come to correlate with their economic status, and because of this, elites are using their knowledge of this to tailor their views in a way that will help them win the election, making them more polar due to

Political polarization can be analyzed by two approaches i.e. elite polarization and mass polarization (Fiorina & Abrams 2008). In its simplest form, what influence politics and what influences the public. Both types can take place over time

During the film “A House Divided” I saw Democrats and Republicans attacking each other because of different their political views and I saw this whole controversy pointless because nothing was being accomplished. The message I took back from watching this film is that both political parties should try to get together no matter where they stand on the political spectrum. Disagreements, division and bigotry will get this country nowhere. In my high school years I remember a political polarization I experienced; I was in a Government class and we were discussing the two different parties and I’m not sure how all the ruckus started but a huge argument broke.