Can Partisan Politics and Political Polarization Affect Your Life? The Answer May Surprise You. ~ Emerald Quill

Jun 21, 2014

Can Partisan Politics and Political Polarization Affect Your Life? The Answer May Surprise You.

6/21/2014 Celestine Green No comments

It’s no secret that “Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan aversion is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades.” A recent Pew Research Center survey of 10,000 adults nationwide finds that these divisions are greatest among those who are the most engaged and active in the political process. Would you be surprised to learn that these trends manifest themselves in a variety of ways, both in politics and in our everyday lives.

Overall, most Americans do not have uniformly conservative or liberal views. Most Americans do not see either party as a threat to the nation. The majority of Americans believe that their representatives in government should meet half way to resolve contentious disputes rather than holding out for more of what they want. The Pew Research Center study finds that one of the real reason for the gridlock in Washington is that “many of those in the center remain on the edges of the political playing field, relatively distant and disengaged, while the most ideologically oriented and politically rancorous Americans make their voices heard through greater participation in every stage of the political process.”

According to study findings, partisan politics and polarization impedes our ability to progress. Animosity between these “engaged” Democrats and “engaged” Republicans continues to increase substantially. The negative view of the opposite party has more than doubled since 1994. Thirty eight percent of Democrats have “very unfavorable” views of Republicans, while forty three percent of Republicans have “very unfavorable” views of Democrats. Thirty six per cent of Republicans and twenty seven per cent of Democrats believe the opposing party’s policies “are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being.”

“On measure after measure – whether primary voting, writing letters to officials, volunteering for or donating to a campaign – the most politically polarized are more actively involved in politics, amplifying the voices that are the least willing to see the parties meet each other halfway.”

It may surprise you to find that polarization begins at home and that most ardent liberals and conservatives live very different lives. The study notes that the specific preferences of each group vary drastically. One interesting finding is that conservatives would rather live in large houses in small towns and rural areas — ideally among people of the same religious faith — while liberals opt for smaller houses and walkable communities in cities, preferably with a mix of different races and ethnicities. And sizable minorities of both groups say they’d be dismayed if someone from the “other side” were to marry into their family. Those findings, and others in the Pew Research report, illustrate how ideological and partisan loyalties can both reflect and reshape Americans’ everyday lives.

According to the report, people with consistently conservative views overwhelmingly favor small towns and rural areas as places to live: 41% say they’d live in a rural area if they could live anywhere in the U.S., while 35% pick a small town. Conversely, 46% of people with consistently liberal views say they prefer to live in cities. (About two-in-ten of those in every category choose the suburbs.)

And when given the choice, three-quarters of consistent conservatives say they’d prefer to live in a community of larger houses with more space between them, even if that means having to drive to shops, restaurants and other amenities. Consistent liberals were almost exactly the opposite: 77% said they prefer denser communities where amenities were in walking distance, even if that meant living in smaller houses. (Speaking of amenities, 73% of consistent liberals said being near art museums and theaters was important, versus just 23% of consistent conservatives.) Fully half of consistent conservatives, and 35% of consistent liberals, say it’s important to live in a place where most people share their political views.

Some researchers have, in fact, found evidence that such preferences factor into where Americans decide to move. A 2013 paper published in the “Annals of the Association of American Geographers,” for instance, analyzed millions of voter files from 2004, 2006 and 2008 from seven states, identifying people who relocated within that time span. The researchers concluded that, while jobs and family concerns are the most important factors in deciding where and whether to move, “Republican migrants show a preference for moving to areas that are even more Republican,” and “Democrats display a similar preference for their own, though the tendency is not as strong.” The researchers concluded that “[w]hether the role of partisanship is central or ancillary, if it is part of the decision process, it has the potential to recast the political landscape of the United States.”

How about you? Do you find yourself gritting your teeth when listening to your in-laws’ political views? Do you feel like a conservative island in a deep blue sea, or vice versa? Do neighborhood barbecues devolve into partisan condiment-flinging? Tell us how political polarization — yours or others’ — affects the way you live.