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posted by janrinok on Monday January 27 2020, @05:46PM   Printer-friendly

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Political polarization among Americans has grown rapidly in the last 40 years—more than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany—a phenomenon possibly due to increased racial division, the rise of partisan cable news and changes in the composition of the Democratic and Republican parties.

That's according to new research co-authored by Jesse Shapiro, a professor of political economy at Brown University. The study, conducted alongside Stanford University economists Levi Boxell and Matthew Gentzkow, was released on Monday, Jan. 20, as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper.

In the study, Shapiro and colleagues present the first ever multi-nation evidence on long-term trends in "affective polarization"—a phenomenon in which citizens feel more negatively toward other political parties than toward their own. They found that in the U.S., affective polarization has increased more dramatically since the late 1970s than in the eight other countries they examined—the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden.

"A lot of analysis on polarization is focused on the U.S., so we thought it could be interesting to put the U.S. in context and see whether it is part of a global trend or whether it looks more exceptional," Shapiro said. "We found that the trend in the U.S. is indeed exceptional."

Using data from four decades of public opinion surveys conducted in the nine countries, the researchers used a so-called "feeling thermometer" to rate attitudes on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 reflected no negative feelings toward other parties. They found that in 1978, the average American rated the members of their own political party 27 points higher than members of the other major party. By 2016, Americans were rating their own party 45.9 points higher than the other party, on average. In other words, negative feelings toward members of the other party compared to one's own party increased by an average of 4.8 points per decade.

The researchers found that polarization had also risen in Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland in the last 40 years, but to a lesser extent. In the U.K., Australia, Germany, Norway and Sweden, polarization decreased.

More information: Levi Boxell et al, Cross-Country Trends in Affective Polarization, (2020). DOI: 10.3386/w26669


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:40PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:40PM (#950162)

    First of all, Trump derangement syndrome means an unreasonable obsessive hatred of Trump. That's you, not me.

    Under the law, Trump can withhold aid. Fuck, he could drone people in Ukraine. He is the chief executive and commander in chief, in case you didn't know.

    You really think it is just fine for Biden to abuse government resources (US aid to Ukraine) to stop an investigation into his own corruption? Come on. That is corruption on top of corruption. That, right there, is *personal* gain. It wasn't for betterment of America, that's for fucking sure.

    Meanwhile, for betterment of America, we need to stop the Biden corruption. Trump has no *personal* gain from that, because it might make Biden lose the primary. It's personal loss. Trump would be happy to run against Biden. Anyway, since when is running for president an immunity from investigation? Obama investigated Trump, going well beyond what was legal. Of course Biden should be investigated, for the betterment of America, and it is a duty to make Ukraine cooperate.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday January 28 2020, @08:36PM

    by edIII (791) on Tuesday January 28 2020, @08:36PM (#950214)

    You're definitely suffering from Chronic Trump Derangement Syndrome. You know how you can tell? Replace Trump with Obama and ask yourself if the Republicans wouldn't have been foaming at the mouth demanding Obama actually be shot for treason? Not just impeachment, but charges of treason.

    The only reason why you're fighting so hard to justify criminal and corrupt behavior is tribalism. When that's pointed out to you, you're response is either tribalism too, or this amazing disconnect with reality where you spin criminal actions as positive ones. There are two responses to your insanity; Joining it in your retarded echo chamber of denialism, or stand back in horror as we realize you've all gone fucking insane.

    You're so far gone it's impossible for you to see criminal and corrupt behavior for what it is.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.