Over the past 50 years, American politics has become more and more divided. The phenomenon, known as political polarization, has led to decreased collaboration between the two parties. As a direct result, campaign ads have become more negative and volatile, while political progress has come to a halt. For example, the current Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has not allowed any of the Democrat-dominated House’s bills to even see a vote in the Senate. Of course no one stands to benefit from this division, so what causes it and how can we fix it?
As mentioned above, the political spectrum has become more polarized since the 1960s. To quantify the problem, let us look at some data. According to the Pew Research Center, in 1976, just 28% of Americans lived in “Landslide Counties.” This phrase means that these voters cast their ballot in a district where the vast majority of voters agreed with them. Just over one quarter of the nation fell into this category in the ’70s, which is to be expected with the historically liberal city dwellers and conservative country population. However, this share of the population, living within their own echo chambers, has grown significantly. In 2012, according to Pew, half of all Americans lived in a landslide county, while in 2016 that number grew to 60% of the population.
When this connection between geography and party affiliation is explored further, the relationship becomes stronger. The Pew Research Center also conducted a survey asking members of both political parties to share their opinions on the opposing group. In 1994 just 16% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans had “very unfavorable” attitudes toward the opposing party. In 2016 this number grew to 55% and 58% respectively. Clearly, the parties are running in opposite directions, right?
Well, not necessarily. These data points certainly suggest that the nation’s divide is only broadening and the hope for collaboration is lost. However, the Pew Center failed to account for a huge, and growing, population: the Independents. According to GenForward Polling, only 28% of young adults think that the two major parties do a good job of representing the American people. Additionally the Pew Research Center found that 39%, the largest share of the American population identify as Independent. This fact changes the way that we can view the previous data.
Perhaps America’s population is not becoming more divided, perhaps it is just the parties. The youth of this great nation are attempting to abandon this polarizing system that is in place. Instead of just picking one side for every election, young people choose to think critically and refuse to choose just one side in such a complicated world. It is undeniable that the two parties are drifting further and further apart, but this does not mean that American citizens are. Perhaps, in order to solve this apparent problem, the political machine should pay attention to the future generations which see no representation in government.
The solution, as I see it, is to abandon the two-party system. This institution has been engraved into our politics since the times of George Washington, even though he warned against exactly that. However, there are exciting new ideas which may lift the burden of this system from our shoulders. A resolution has already been passed and utilized in local Maine elections to experiment with a ranked voting system. A ranked voting system allows voters to rank their preferred order between at least three candidates, and their votes will effectively be distributed between their choices. The nuances are complex but very interesting; I recommend checking out CGP Gray’s YouTube series on the matter. This system, instead of forcing a decision between two poles, allows voters to choose what is successful. By enforcing numerous parties, the domination of two opposites becomes less likely as people will be drawn toward the compromise candidates. The candidates which work to connect the spectrum will get the most votes allowing for some collaboration. Finally, solutions like this, allowing both sides of the spectrum to influence the middle, would likely counteract the recent rise in extremism. Extremists oftentimes feel isolated and underrepresented, so they will act drastically to be heard. Of course we see the headlines when this turns violent. In a system of many political parties, their ideology is still unlikely to win, but it can now be heard. If the ideas are bad, they will not be implemented, just like Congress today, but if they are good, the middle will shift towards them.
Overall, the American two-party system has become more and more polarized. The American people, however, wish to change this. We want to work together, and there are avenues which we may explore to increase the desired collaboration. They are viable and have been tested; now it is your turn and my turn to bring them into the mainstream discourse.
Oh yeah, one more thing… abolish the electoral college.
Be First to Comment