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The Growing Divide
Polarization is increasing in the USA. Why?
Polarization. In politics, increased polarization means that the political parties are further from each other. In America, this phenomenon is commonly discussed and quite clear at plain sight. Recall the 2016 election. Democratic Hillary Clinton was recorded saying that “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”. Conversely, Trump supporters often chanted “Lock her up”, hereby wishing to in-prison a presidential candidate.
Political candidates have seldom seemed so far from each other.
When we speak of polarization, what mode of analysis are we then using about politics? Here, we are thinking about politics in spatial terms. We often do this somewhat unconsciously when we conceptualize political position in a left-right, liberal-conservative axis.
Before we delve into the empirical data regarding the increasing polarization of American politics and explanations to why this is happening, let us first outlay some initial assumptions regarding spatial analysis.
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