POLITICS - Polarization of U.S. Politics

"With Political Polarization at All-Time High, Americans Say 'Listen to Me'" PBS Newshour 6/6/2012

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): And we come back to the campaign and an increasingly polarized environment.

The passion from supporters of both parties leading up to yesterday's vote in Wisconsin is just one slice of a national trend, and one that is growing, according to a new poll. The Pew Research Center's American Values survey has tracked Americans' attitudes on a variety of issues over the past 25 years.

Asking about views on government, business, the environment and social issues, Pew researchers found this year that partisan divisions have grown more intense than ever.

Significant excerpt

ANDREW KOHUT, Pew Research Center: When we first started doing this in 1987, we found that income, education, race, and party affiliation were all about equally important or influential in shaping political -- views about values. Now, however, we find that education, income and the range of demographic factors continue to be as influential as they were in 1987, but the influence of party affiliation has doubled.

JUDY WOODRUFF: When Pew began asking its set of value-oriented questions in 1987, the average disparity by party was 10 percent. By 2012, the partisan gap had nearly doubled to 18 points.

ANDREW KOHUT: Almost all of the increase that we see occurred not gradually over the past 25 years, but in the past 10 years, that is to say during the administrations of George W. Bush and now Barack Obama.

By the middle of his first term, most Democrats strongly disapproved of George W. Bush. And almost from the get-go, most Republicans have strongly disapproved of Barack Obama. So part of it Is response to these presidencies and the political culture. Part of it, too, is the way the parties have changed. The parties have become smaller than they once were. We have a record number of political independents.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In fact, an unprecedented 38 percent of those surveyed identified as independents, the most to choose that description at any point in the last 75 years.

By comparison, just 32 percent said they were Democrats, and only 24 percent now call themselves Republicans. Throughout this election year, the NewsHour wants to hear from all these categories of voters from across the country as a part of our "Listen to Me" project. And while we're just getting started, by November 6, we will collect a rich tapestry of voices, including many independents.