The Political Divisions Of The United States

Generally speaking, anyone who lives in the United States of America knows that there are two main political parties—the Republicans and the Democrats. Having two main parties has its advantages and, of course, its disadvantages. For example, in By the People James E. Monroe and Rogan Kersh (301) point out having this type of system creates “predictability and stability.” However, they also declare (301) it can “lead to a gridlock.” This is not a new concept either as there has been a divide since the beginning of both parties. The two parties more often than not disagree on various issues, while rarely agreeing on what is best for the country.

The growing ideological gap between the United States’ two major political parties, in other words, rising levels of political polarization, has had a negative impact on American politics as it results in Congressional inefficient, public apathy, and economic inequality.

The polarization of the political parties is a reflection of a country, not simply a government divided, but the country’s populous in growing further apart. Alan Abramowitz indicates the polarization of the Democrats and Republicans causes them to be on opposing sides on almost all issues and Washington reflects the growing division within Americans (714). Thus the major problem with Polarization and gridlock is not the simply the inability to pass the legislation when gridlock occurs but what it does to the morale of American citizens. D.J. Flynn and Laurel Harbridge completed two surveys in order to study how partisan congress affects public opinion. A result from the study indicated most people will accept legislation in favor of the opposing party than they will gridlock (885) and while more research is needed the result of their survey is gridlock does cause a decrease in the populist confidence in Congress (Flynn, Harbridge 890). It is clear something needs to be done to improve the mindset of the American people. One of the best ways to improve the mindset of the American populace is for them to become more educated. When the country was first established, people were not privy to every action the congress was taking as it happened, and therefore the quibbles within congress were not in the forefront of people’s minds. Even Melnick illuminated the fact that the populist is now bombarded with opinions about what is happing in Washington. He indicated when the constitutional convention took place the meeting was behind closed doors miles from constituents allowing them

As a young child, politics has always been a complicated idea that I could never wrap my mind around. Even knowing nothing whatsoever over politics and the government, I could still see that there was something truly wrong with politics, and as I grew older, I began to understand politics as it itself is in a state of dysfunction. The question at hand here is how and why this dysfunction is occurring in our politics today. For many experts, they have found that it can all be centered on one main topic. Even though many experts have various viewpoints when it comes to politics, many can agree that it is partisanship that is causing dysfunction in politics, however there are also those who believe otherwise.

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,

There are many theories as to how or why political polarization was formed, and the impact it has on government in modern day. Polarization has varied significantly over the years ever since the 1970’s. However, what is the true cause and can it be explained? This paper will discuss some theories on how political polarization came about, and analyzes some accounts of polarization overall. Defining political polarization is vital into developing an understanding of how or why it was initially formed.

In an era of polarization a unified or divided government is detrimental to determine the relationship between the president and Congress (Edwards 1997, 545). The type of government helps determine how difficult legislation is passed in Congress, especially legislation important for the president. In unified government, where both chambers of Congress controlled by the same party as the president’s, legislation is much easier to pass in Congress. Presidents in a unified government have much success within Congress because their party tends to vote in favor of the president. Congressmen are more likely to vote on legislation in favor of the president because they are optimistic that the president will help them when elections come around (Coleman 1999, 821). Moreover, in a polarized era, congressmen are loyal to their party. For example, David Price (D- NC) has voted nearly ninety-five percent in favor of the Democratic Party in the 113th Congress (OpenCongress)

Throughout the history of these great United States of America, the country has always possessed something truly unique: the fundamental principle of being for and by the people. This dynamic has lasted throughout the 241 year history of the United States being an independent nation. Whether it was the American Revolution led by George Washington, the Louisiana Purchase of Thomas Jefferson, the freeing of the slaves by Abraham Lincoln, or even through the grimmer times of the Great Depression, we have always remained strong due to great leadership (“The history of the United States,” 2016). However, as time has passed, both major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, have become increasingly polarized in their conquest for power. This remains true to this day, as the United States is in the midst of its current presidential election cycle, with the ultimate goal of a strong 45th President of the United States of America.

POLARIZATION OVERVIEW: Polarization occurs when members of both political parties consistently vote along ideological lines. Ideological differences in Congress today are quite staggering. Congressmen have increasingly been moving away from moderate stances and adhering more to party ideologies. The issue with polarization arises when there are two incredibly differing ideologies where both sides feel so strongly about their view that compromise is unfeasible. Some Congressmen able to adhere to a coherent personal ideological beliefs, but there is a growing number of Congressmen that vote based on the party issue positions or on how their

In this paper I argue that the US electorate is not polarized or deeply divided, instead, the electorate is forced to choose between two extremes making it appear as if they are divided when in reality they have many similar views on many issues. I base my argument on Table 1 and 2 in Alan Abramowitz’s essay that shows how the US electorate have to choose between two parties although they may not feel as strong about the topic like the candidate. Tables 5 and 7 in Morris Fiorina’s essay convince me that the US electorate is not polarized, in fact there are many idealogical similarities, however, parties push agenda’s that are highly divided and polarized therefore people have to choose between the two, that is closest to their views, either religious or cultural, although they may not completely agree with them.

In 2017, the political divide between Republicans and Democrats have been wider then they’ve been in at least 23 years. Every party has different views on government, race, immigration, taxes, national security and military. For example, Republicans believe lowers taxes are better, but democrats believe that raising taxes is the best way to go. Another example is immigration, Republicans, to this day believe illegal immigration is a bad thing and have gone as far as building walls between 2 countries because of it. Well Democrats believe everyone is welcome, even without a proper identity in their country.

Over the past six months the political divide has progressively widened in severity. People have developed the alt-right and the alt-left, which are most extreme sects of the political parties. How do you merge these two parties together? Well, some unrealistic ideas have come about recently. First, people suggested simply compromising on issues, also known as meeting in the middle. This solution seems overly logical and simply to work. When has compromising actually worked? Secondly, and the most logical idea, is to divide the country even more through extremists groups. This idea appears to be working so far. Lastly, another idea is to simply not care, or get involved in the political agenda. Unfortunately, only the least intelligent people do this. As everyone knows, politicians and political parties are the single most important thing

Throughout the semester we have been discussing the idea of polarization and political trust among the mass public. Hetherington and Rudolph’s central theory was based around the idea that polarization is at an all-time high in the United States. Many Americans are consistently displaying polarization in their policy preferences as well as how they feel about members of the opposite party. Due to the public lack of trust in the government, the probability of Congress compromising reduces. Since there is already an increasingly polarized political environment that has difficulties passing laws, the book discovers that trust in the government helps explain the reason why Washington is dysfunctional. Political trust helps create consensus in the public by providing a bridge between individuals across both party lines. A challenge in measuring polarization comes from the idea that many American’s don’t want to view themselves as extreme so they will typically take on moderate views. Also some individuals are not as politically knowledgeable so they usually fall in the middle. They solved this challenge by employing alternatives to a literal definition of polarization. Lastly, Hetherington and Rudolph stated that “a polarization of trust stands in the way of the emergence of public consensus on things, such as, public policy (H&R, 2015, pg.25)”. Also, a polarization of trust has cause people to become unwilling to make ‘ideological sacrifices.’

Today whenever you turn on the television, read a newspaper, or scroll through social media, you are bound to witness the same one thing – election season. This year of 2016 brings the time for Americans to elect a new President for the United States of America. While every American certainly has their own opinion on who is the best fit for the presidency spot, one thing is for certain; the elected president will either be of the Democrat Party or the Republican Party. The Democrat and Republican parties are the two largest political parties of the United States, and between the two of them, have won every presidential election since 1852. While Republican and Democrat parties do share similar goals, it is quite minor when compared to the substantial amount of differences between the two parties’ ideology pertaining to economic, domestic, foreign, and social issues. It is very important that one is informed of the differences as well as the similarities, of the two political parties, in order to make an educated choice come election time, when choosing the party and candidate that best represents your beliefs.

Researchers agreed that economic inequality and political polarization coincide with one another, because as one rises so does the other (McCarthy, Nolan & Poole 2003). The research for this study also seemed to support the idea that the political polarization increase in recent years is due to the fact that the gap had widened between voters who were republican and identified themselves as conservatives and democratic voters that identified themselves as conservatives. There was an increase in the number of republican voters identifying as conservatives while there was also a decrease in democratic voters who identify as conservatives.