Nov 17, 2016
Political polarization is the worst it’s been since the Civil War,
some experts argue. How did we get here? How have America’s
ideologies shifted so much in the past four decades? What forces
underlie the growing divide between Republicans and Democrats? And
how has social media and varying sources of information widened the
gap? In episode 21, professors Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang discuss
party polarization with Matt Grossmann and David Hopkins,
co-authors of the new book, “Asymmetric Politics: Ideological
Republicans and Group Interest Democrats.” Published by Oxford
University Press, the book provides a new understanding of
contemporary polarization. Grossmann and Hopkins show how
Republicans are more ideological, gaining public support by
pledging their loyalty to broad values, while Democrats are more
interested in special interest groups, appealing to voters’ group
identities and interests through the endorsement of certain
policies. The result: two parties that think differently, argue
past one another, rely on completely different sources of
information and pursue divergent governmental goals.