Name:
Science is revealing why American politics e so intensely polarized.
Date: Jan. 20, 2024
From:
Washingtonpost.com
Publisher: The Washington Post
Document Type: Article
Length: 1,796 ?words
Lexile Measure: 1150??
Full Text:
Byline: Joel Achenbach
ATKINSON, N.H. – ?They stood in line for hours, in steady snow that became steady sleet, to hear the leader of their tribe.
Fresh from a major victory in lowa, former president Donald Trump was scheduled to speak at 5 ?p.m. ?The parking lot at the country club opened at 10 ?a.m. ?The doors opened at 2 ?p.m., ?and hundreds of people were already in line. When everyone fidate finally arrived just packed for hours more until the snowstorm-delayed
It’s not always logistically easy being in the Trump tribe, but people stuck it out – ?and when instructed to turn around and express their sentiments directly to the news media, they dutifully booed and raised middle fingers.
antagonism that Trump supporters feel toward the media is a small piece of out there.
As the 2024 ?primary season revs up, ?and with the political stakes this year extraordinarily high, voters are both polarized and hardly budging. Pundits expect another close election that’s a repeat of 2020 . ?There’s not a lot of wobble on either left or right.
Social scientists have taken note of these hardening political divisions, pumping out academic articles and books that add data to what appears to be a steady rise in tribalism.
One theme emerges in much of the research: Our politics tend be more emotional now. Policy preferences are increasingly likely to be entangled with a visceral dislike of the opposition. The newly embraced academic term for this is “affective polarization.”
“It’s feelings based,” said Lilliana Mason, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and author of “Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity.” “It’s polarization that’s based on our feelings for each other, not based on extremely divergent policy preferences.”
The tendency to form tightly knit groups has roots in evolution, according to experts in political
The Correct Answer and Explanation is :
The article “Science is revealing why American politics are so intensely polarized,” published on January 20, 2024, in The Washington Post, explores the deepening divisions in U.S. politics. It highlights that polarization is increasingly driven by emotional factors, particularly a visceral dislike of opposing groups, rather than solely by divergent policy preferences. This phenomenon, termed “affective polarization,” intertwines political identities with personal feelings, leading to heightened animosity between groups.
Political scientist Lilliana Mason notes that this type of polarization is “feelings based,” emphasizing that it stems from how groups perceive and feel about each other, rather than from substantial policy differences.
The article also discusses the evolutionary roots of tribalism, suggesting that humans have an innate tendency to form tightly knit groups, which can contribute to political divisions.
In summary, the article underscores that the intensification of political polarization in the United States is largely due to emotional factors, particularly affective polarization, which is deeply rooted in human psychology and evolutionary history.