Polarization
Percentage of people in each major political party (Democrats and Republicans) with a mostly or very unfavorable view of the other main party.
Why did we include this measure?
A key principle of democracy is respect for the views of others. In our party-based system, this also means respect for people of the other main political party. To be clear, we do not see this as a measure of agreement about specific public issues—disagreement is healthy—but only as a measure of, and a need for, respecting opposing views.
How does the US rank globally?
- Specific Measure: The level that society is polarized into antagonistic political camps (response options: not at all, mainly not, somewhat, to a noticeable extent, to a large extent).
(Source: Author’s analysis of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute).
- Percentage of countries the US outperforms: 0% (out of 92 countries)
- International Rank Trend: Worsening
National Trend Worsening
What do the data show?
Our views of the other political party are very low and declining, both in national terms and relative to other countries.
What might explain these patterns?
This polarization partially reflects political realignment that accelerated in the early 1990s. It used to be, for example, that members and officials of the two parties did not differ markedly on their views on policy issues. This is no longer true. Polarization in social media and mass media also seems to be feeding this trend.
For more information about data sources and treatments, download the Data Notes.