Political Polarization

The United States is generally separated into two groups: Democrats and Republicans. Though we all live in the same country and possibly live similar lives, our view points and morals are different. Polarization isn’t inherently a problem in of itself, but the affects that it has on the way we govern ourselves could be problematic. There will never be a time when everyone thinks the same way and accepts other people’s ideas as their own. The root cause of political polarization cannot be tied down to one idea; the way we take the world influences the polarization far more than most people think. In America the main root causes of political polarization can be narrowed down to party realignment, income inequality, how people identify in a political

While Obama was in office, polarization was at a very high point, his approval ratings were neatly correlated by party. Democrat’s approval rating for Obama were about 80%, Independents were at 40%, and Republicans were down to 10%. Donald Trump has just had an approval poll sent out and the results came back to a 50% approval rating, which is higher than Obama’s approval rating of 46% at a similar time in his presidency. This is the face child of political polarization, when Democrats and Republicans are so far apart on ideals that there is very little common ground to get anything done. (Morton,

When studying the graphics associated with the composition of the republican and democrat parties the percentages of white people in the republican party is 89% whereas 60% in the democratic party. Blacks account for less than 10% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats. Pew Research found that white people were more likely to be Republican rather than Democrat, 49% to 40%, that’s a margin of only 9%. In contrast, Blacks were over seven times more likely to say that they are democrats than republicans. The Washington Post found that while the Democratic party is more racially diverse, black Americans are not very politically diverse. Polarization really shows in this example because Pew Research also did a study on how parties feel about each other. More than half of people in each party view the other party as unfavorable and 9 out of 10 view the other party unfavorably to some extent. (Bump, 2016)

Technology in recent times has boomed more than anything else, everything we do is somehow associated with technology. From going to the gym to talking with friends, there is always a screen in front of you with he ability to produce an unlimited number of images. In the study Impact of Customizability Technology on Political Polarization: “found that the customizability increased political polarization indirectly, via its effect on political selective