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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
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @07:57PM (4 children)
but the democratic party turned nutjob when Hellary bought out the votes from Bernie. So, I switched sides and voted Trump.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @08:26PM (3 children)
I call bullshit, maybe if you'd voted 3rd party your anecdote would be believable. Or do you have some rationale for choosing to support Trump over any of the better options?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @08:58PM (2 children)
Perhaps because a vote for a better candidate would have effectively not been a negative vote for Hillary?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @09:55PM (1 child)
If the poster had a problem with HRC then a 3rd party vote would be appropriate. Actively trying to get Trump in office is a burn it all down mentality. So I still call bullshit unless the person actively wanted to destroy US politics in the hopes a phoenix would emerge from the ashes. More likely in my mind the person is a false flag poster trying to sway centrists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @08:07PM
They are so common, there is a Wikipedia article on it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obama-Trump_voters [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Monday January 27 2020, @08:04PM (7 children)
You hate each other with a passion, all the neighbours are fed up with your constant fights, your domestic violence every fucking weekend, just split. You want your border wall, you can have it, and one around the other sides too, because good fences make good neighbours.
Signed: The UN
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @08:08PM (1 child)
Good thing the rest of the world is pure peace and bunnies!
Everybody is sharing a giant LOVE SANDWICH.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday January 27 2020, @08:31PM
Where's MY sandwich....sudo make me a sandwich!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @10:00PM (4 children)
Honestly I don't hate conservatives overall even after the naked racism on display during Obama's terms. I realized they didn't represent all conservatives. I still don't hate them all and I give individuals their due consideration, but they make it harder every day as they continue to support the Pustule In Chief, deny reality, and exhibit every behavior they blame liberals for.
Fox News has turned them into a ball of irrational hate and it is really hard to not let it get to me. I would LOVE for the UN to step in and place election monitors around the country, help us root out the corruption that is destabilizing our democracy.
Sorry for the loud noises and collateral damage, if I could do something about it I would.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday January 27 2020, @11:37PM (3 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @11:56PM (2 children)
Well currently they are denying all such allegations as hearsay and Democrat coups. Not sure what to do at this point other than hope they get hammered in the courts. Of course that is hard to do when they allow the defendant to withhold evidence and deny witness testimony.
As usual it is projection from the GOP, "we can't let the POTUS be tied up in a kangaroo court!" Uh huuuh
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday January 28 2020, @12:18AM (1 child)
They stated publicly that they would vote against impeachment, then took an oath to listen and consider all evidence before coming to a decision. Justice Roberts has no ball and no integrity - any judge getting a whiff of this sort of behaviour from a potential juror, and moreso one who has been sworn in, would be hauled before the bench and given a lecture that would make them crap their pants, be dismissed for cause, and if they actively promoted this among other jurors, charged with corruption of justice.
Not to mention the lesser charge of contemp.
But of course they don't want an impartial fair trial.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @12:54AM
Apparently one big failing of the US system is no impartial application of law to politicians. You are 100% correct, but without the judge ruling against them we have no recourse. Part of it is that the impeachment trial is not a standard legal trial, so there is a lot of tradition and rule setting that seems to occur.
The silver lining is that we've had our structural problems really well highlighted. A new round of updates are in order to close these stupid loopholes and provide punishments for abuses of power. The POTUS can not deny congressional subpoenas, any statement made by an elected official that violates their oath shall result in removal and incarceration, etc.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Monday January 27 2020, @09:40PM (7 children)
Is it a sign of polarization for me to think that Trump is a truly evil and wicked person? Whatever happened to the sense of morality? I'm just naïve I guess.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 27 2020, @09:57PM (6 children)
It may not be a sign of polarization. It may be just stating what anyone can see. However, there are two extreme poles. One pole sees Trump as the antichrist. The other pole sees him as a god above all other gods. You probably end up pigeonholing yourself into one of the two polar extremes. Even if your observation is quite reasonable.
Or maybe, one of those poles is reasonable and the other is not?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @06:08AM (4 children)
That is exactly the sort of polarization the article is about.
I don't think Trump is a God above all men. I don't think he is Satan and Hitler merged into Sauron.
I don't think he is the smartest guy on the planet, but I wonder how dumb the Left would have to be to lose to someone as stupid as they claim he is.
He the most polarizing politician I have ever seen. His ability to send the Left into incoherent frothing rage is amazing. They then turn that rage on anyone they perceive as his supporters. The people attacked (supporters or not) then retaliate, quite often by doing or advocating whatever they think will rile up the Left even more. It is just a cycle of trolling vs incoherent anger now. It is almost impossible to have a rational discussion.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @01:32AM (2 children)
There *is* no left in the US; the Democrats are a center-right corporatist party. They're also divided right down the middle, with a small set of actual centrists (Sanders, Ocasio-Cortes, etc) on one side and what are essentially Reagan Republicans on the other, which side unfortunately also has all the power and money.
Honestly, the Democrats are doing a fine job tearing themselves apart without any outside help. How could it be otherwise, when there's less distance between Clinton and Romney than Clinton and Sanders?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:11AM (1 child)
Left is a relative position not an absolute.
The Democrats might be to the Right of the rest of the world, but they are Left of the Republicans.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @03:34PM
True but irrelevant, mostly because 1) we live in a global age now and 2) the "relative" aspect only exists on a pre-existing collection of absolutes. You may as well say that if you only look at the colors red, orange, and yellow, yellow is blue-violet "relative to red." You can't make that claim without knowing that there *is* a blue-violet.
And yes, there is a real, absolute set of far-left to far-right. Absolute far left would be anarcho-communism, and absolute far right would be something like Saudi Arabia.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday January 29 2020, @02:53PM
Well said.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 29 2020, @01:30AM
Trump actually fits the profile of the antichrist shockingly well. Open up your Bible to Revelation and read it very slowly and carefully, and at every verse that describes what the antichrist will do or how acts, compare to the entirety of the Trump administration.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @09:57PM (1 child)
That assumption is out of touch. Racial division in the USA has gone way down since Trump was elected.
Maybe it "feels" otherwise if you are a white leftist. Feelings aren't facts. Polls shown the division has gone down.
Obama stoked the fire. A particularly notable time was when Obama said that if he had a son, that son would be like Trevon Martin. That was a terribly divisive thing to say.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 27 2020, @10:04PM
Lololol
White leftists, we are less divided, except obama saying divisive shit.
Crazy harder bruh, you aren't quite at the 3 free meals a day level.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @12:43AM (1 child)
They have been systematically trying to take over and turn the U.S. into an Oligarchy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @07:43AM
Don't imagine for a moment they didn't actually succeed in doing so.
We are in the "consolidation" phase now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @01:26AM
"it was found that people would accept the programming if given a choice."
so "choice" is not about the value of the bitwise register but a positive result if check for its existance.
the available "choices" can always be presented so that a outcome is guaranteed.
it seems, however that the values need to be digital or in polito-speak ... "polarized".
so ”either” -or- "or" but nothing else.
the amount of "polarization" signifies how good the pre-determind steering will cut (clean cut -vs- messy cut) or program...
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday January 28 2020, @02:04AM
Passed up all you slackers. We're #1, bitches!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday January 28 2020, @02:06AM (1 child)
I would say the froth coming from the Establishment and transmitted via their mouthpieces in the media and entertainment, are absolutely apoplectic. They are polarized, and polarizing. They are doing everything they can to cast America and Americans as evil. They hate America's history, they hate its ethos, they hate the people in it. They hate that they won't do what they're told by their betters not in Flyover Country (yes, that's the dismissive little pat on the head spoken by people in New York and California).
The pith, though, is different. Most people show up every day at jobs they don't particularly like, that they wished paid them a little more money, and which they could get more vacation time from. Most people are worried trying to pay their bills and taxes and save enough for their kids' college and still have enough for retirement. Most people are breathing a bit of a sigh of relief right now that the economy is working for them at last. That is where most people, most voters, live, and that experience is common and far outweighs the screamers on social media.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 28 2020, @08:00AM
LOL, all the others, for which the economy doesn't work for, are non-people, amiright?
See page 15 what will expire in 2025 [jct.gov] (PDF warning) - mostly whatever tax cuts were applied for the working people. Afterwards, they'll start paying back the deficit that was created and some more. On the other side, the corporate income tax to 21% stays in place.
True, until then there are some other elections, other congresscritters, time will tell.