American Politics and Government-POLT 101

Political Polarization

In his document titled “Has The American Public Polarized,” the central argument presented by Morris Fiorina is that polarization is limited to the “political class” in the United States, which includes a group of activists and elected officials. In the eyes of Fiorina, this polarized class is responsible for the gridlock in Washington and the failure to address threats to the future of America such as rampant inflation and debt. According to the author, today’s ordinary Americans are not more polarized as compared to thirty years ago (Fiorina 22). His argument made us understand the relationship between ideology and party affiliation which has become stronger in America than before. After exploring his ideas, I also discovered that ordinary Americans are not only less polarized as compared to the past but are also turned off by increasing polarization in the political class, which makes them less likely to vote or even support either of the parties ideologies. Fiorina uses findings from the statistical methodology employed by Howard Rosenthal and Keith Poole to estimate ideological positions held by state legislatures whom we saw in class lectures are among the evidence of political polarization in America. Therefore, according to Fiorina (3), most American state legislatures register a similar polarizing trend compared to the Congress, party activists, and donor class. While the elite concept of polarization is considerably accepted among the political class, commentators, and pundits, American people are victims of a polarized political elite and extremes.

Political elites certainly contribute to the belief that the American public is polarized. Actions by most of the political leaders in America is a good proof of how social trends is part of media that has been constantly used to spread polarization narratives to the public. This has resulted to dramatic changes in the key dimensions of American political parties; party organization, party in government, and party in the electorate. Moreover, fewer activists and campaign contributors lead to the increase of a polarization ideology among Americans (Fiorina 4). Through the lens of Fiorina, ideological disputes between political activists and the political elite have little resonance with the American public. Consequently, Americans are not well-informed when it comes to politics hence many people are not ideological or like speaking about politics apart from those who are deeply passionate. In this case, we learned that those who are passionate speak about politics in social groups and tend to be the most extreme. Most Americans hold a mixture of conservative and liberal views about different political issues. For instance, many people view America as a deeply divided society politically, ideologically, and morally today than during the Civil War (Crammer 00:01:17). It means that even individuals that are moderately active, informed, and attentive are divided by the ideologies held by the political elite and political parties in the country. It makes me believe that the American political parties are more polarized than ever and there have been notable changes since the 1990s in the trends in party identification of the three largest partisan groups in the U.S., the Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Another important thing I discovered is how partisan polarization is an elite phenomenon in the sense that only a few political activists and elected officials are truly polarized. While differences between Republican and Democratic identifiers on various issues have increased, such differences are slightly greater compared to their ideologies in the past. Most commentators argue that the government’s inaction on certain issues such as immigration reform or gun control reflects increased polarization in American society (Bianco & Canon 776). On the contrary, polarization has resulted in a growing partisan divide, especially among voters who believe their party ideologies are the best. The growing consistency in terms of ideology and party affiliation means that such attitudes reinforce one another hence pushing voters in the same direction due to partisanship. Knowing that in the past Americans have not been ideological, polarization can be conceptualized in partisan terms rather than ideological (Fiorina 8). If so, independent voters could be seen pushing toward either the Republican or Democratic side.

The most important insight I developed from Fiorina’s work is that polarization erodes from the center point of politics hence forcing some citizens to move towards the extremes. This has not been witnessed in the United States and instead, parties have sorted to make Republicans more homogeneously conservative and Democrats more homogeneously liberal. Fiorina supports this commonplace observation as he argues that the comparison between the political class and party sorting is greatly exaggerated. This leads to his conclusion that ideological polarization has not increased among Americans in the recent past (Fiorina 16). Another insight I have learned is how partisan polarization is an elite phenomenon, meaning that there has been a slight growth in partisan polarization in America. I would agree with Fiorina that Americans should not be blamed for the political divisiveness experienced in the country. It makes me believe that the Americans are fundamentally sensible and moderate hence the people at fault are mostly the political activists and elites. I think the author uses the phrase “we” throughout his essay to reinforce his point, referring to the public at large and through the lens of American politics. This means that Fiorina identifies himself as part of the ordinary group of Americans who happen to be innocent victims of political activists and extremist elites.

Works Cited

Bianco, William T., and David T. Canon. “American Politics Today.” 7th Edition- Essentials.

Crammer, Cale. “Module 3: Lecture on Political Polarization.” YouTube, 28 June 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZu84NXv3Kg.

Fiorina, Morris. “Has The American Public Polarized?” Hoover Institution, Hoover Institution Press, 14 Sept. 2016, https://www.hoover.org/research/has-american-public-polarized