Is political polarization worse than it's been in the past?

The short answer is yes and no.

Whether political polarization is "worse" than in the past depends entirely on what era you are comparing it to.

If you compare today’s political climate to the last 50 to 70 years (living memory for most people), polarization is indeed at its worst modern level. However, if you look at the entirety of American history, we are not at an all-time peak.

1. Yes: It is worse than in modern living memory (the last 50–70 years)

By almost every sociological and political metric, the division between the two major parties has widened dramatically since the mid-20th century.

•The Death of the Political Moderate: In the 1970s, there was significant ideological overlap between the two parties. There were conservative Democrats (mainly in the South) and liberal Republicans (mainly in the Northeast). Today, that overlap has virtually disappeared. Political scientists tracking congressional voting patterns (using DW-NOMINATE data) have found that the U.S. Congress is more polarized today than at any point in the last 50 years, with virtually no moderates left on either side.

•The Rise of "Affective Polarization": Perhaps the biggest change is not what people believe, but how they feel about the other side. "Affective polarization" is the tendency of partisans to view members of the opposing party not just as people with different ideas, but as dishonest, immoral, or a threat to the nation. Pew Research Center data shows that the percentage of Democrats and Republicans who view the opposing party as "immoral" has nearly doubled over the past decade.

•Partisan Sorting: In the past, people's political identities were cross-cut by other affiliations (e.g., a person could be a union worker but also a churchgoer, or a wealthy businessman who supported social safety nets). Today, Americans have "sorted" themselves. Race, religion, education, geography (urban vs. rural), and media consumption now align almost perfectly with party identification. This makes political disagreements feel like fundamental clashes of lifestyle and identity rather than mere policy debates.

2. No: It is not the worst in all of American history

While today’s divisions are deeply concerning, American history is filled with eras of extreme—and often violent—polarization.

•The Antebellum and Civil War Era (1850s–1860s): This remains the absolute peak of American polarization. The issue of slavery polarized the country to the point where the political system collapsed entirely, leading to secession and a civil war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Modern polarization, while bitter, has not resulted in a militarized splitting of the nation.

•The Reconstruction Era (Late 1870s): Following the Civil War, the country was deeply fractured. Congress was plagued by fierce partisan gridlock, political violence was rampant in the South, and the election of 1876 was so disputed it nearly triggered another civil war. Political scientists point out that congressional division today is roughly on par with the Reconstruction Era, but not worse than it.

•The Gilded Age (Late 19th Century): The late 1800s were defined by massive economic inequality, rapid industrialization, and fierce partisan warfare. Media was highly partisan, and political parties functioned as patronage machines that deeply divided communities.

•The 1960s and 1970s: The Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal created massive generational and cultural divides. Riots, political assassinations, and bombings by radical groups made this era feel incredibly unstable.

Why the mid-20th century gave us a false baseline

Many people look back at the 1950s through the 1970s as a "normal" era of bipartisan cooperation, but historians view that period as a historical anomaly. That era of consensus was forged by the shared national experiences of the Great Depression and World War II, as well as the unifying threat of the Cold War. Once those factors faded and the parties "sorted" themselves ideologically (particularly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which drove Southern conservatives from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party), the U.S. returned to its more historically common state of partisan division.

Is this happening everywhere?

While polarization is rising in many parts of the world due to the rise of populist movements and changing media landscapes, research indicates that the United States is somewhat unique. A study by Brown and Stanford universities found that while some peer democracies (such as Canada, the UK, and Germany) have experienced modest rises in polarization, the U.S. has polarized much faster and more severely than other wealthy democracies over the last 40 years.

Summary

If you feel like American politics is more divided, hostile, and gridlocked than at any other point in your lifetime, you are correct. We are living through a period of historic division that has dismantled the cooperative political norms of the post-WWII era. However, American history reminds us that the nation has survived even deeper divides—most notably the Civil War—and that intense political conflict is a recurring feature of the U.S. democratic experiment.

Citations (15)

1reddit.comForums and Q&A
reddit.com
Backs: “Whether political polarization is "worse" than in the past depends entirely on what era you are comparing it to.”
2pewresearch.orgNonprofits and think tanks
pewresearch.org
Backs: “If you compare today’s political climate to the last 50 to 70 years (living memory for most people), polarization is indeed at its worst modern level. However, if you look at the entirety of American history, we are not at an all-time peak.”
3usc.eduAcademic
usc.edu
Backs: “The Death of the Political Moderate: In the 1970s, there was significant ideological overlap between the two parties. There were conservative Democrats (mainly in the South) and liberal Republicans (mainly in the Northeast).”
4brookings.eduNonprofits and think tanks
brookings.edu
Backs: “Today, that overlap has virtually disappeared. Political scientists tracking congressional voting patterns (using DW-NOMINATE data) have found that the U.S.”
5facinghistory.orgNonprofits and think tanks
facinghistory.org
Backs: “The Rise of "Affective Polarization": Perhaps the biggest change is not what people believe, but how they feel about the other side. "Affective polarization" is the tendency of partisans to view members of the opposing party not just as people with different ideas, but as dishonest, immoral, or a threat to the nation.”
6wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
wikipedia.org
Backs: “The Rise of "Affective Polarization": Perhaps the biggest change is not what people believe, but how they feel about the other side. "Affective polarization" is the tendency of partisans to view members of the opposing party not just as people with different ideas, but as dishonest, immoral, or a threat to the nation.”
7syr.eduAcademic
syr.edu
Backs: “Pew Research Center data shows that the percentage of Democrats and Republicans who view the opposing party as "immoral" has nearly doubled over the past decade. Partisan Sorting: In the past, people's political identities were cross-cut by other affiliations (e.g., a person could be a union worker but also a…”
8cam.ac.ukAcademic
cam.ac.uk
Backs: “Today, Americans have "sorted" themselves. Race, religion, education, geography (urban vs.”
9brookings.eduNonprofits and think tanks
brookings.edu
Backs: “rural), and media consumption now align almost perfectly with party identification. This makes political disagreements feel like fundamental clashes of lifestyle and identity rather than mere policy debates.”
10democracyproject.orgNonprofits and think tanks
democracyproject.org
Backs: “The issue of slavery polarized the country to the point where the political system collapsed entirely, leading to secession and a civil war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Modern polarization, while bitter, has not resulted in a militarized splitting of the nation.”
11usc.eduAcademic
usc.edu
Backs: “Political scientists point out that congressional division today is roughly on par with the Reconstruction Era, but not worse than it. The Gilded Age (Late 19th Century): The late 1800s were defined by massive economic inequality, rapid industrialization, and fierce partisan warfare.”
12wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
wikipedia.org
Backs: “The Gilded Age (Late 19th Century): The late 1800s were defined by massive economic inequality, rapid industrialization, and fierce partisan warfare. Media was highly partisan, and political parties functioned as patronage machines that deeply divided communities.”
13voxdev.orgAcademic
voxdev.org
Backs: “While polarization is rising in many parts of the world due to the rise of populist movements and changing media landscapes, research indicates that the United States is somewhat unique. A study by Brown and Stanford universities found that while some peer democracies (such as Canada, the UK, and Germany) have…”
14cam.ac.ukAcademic
cam.ac.uk
Backs: “While polarization is rising in many parts of the world due to the rise of populist movements and changing media landscapes, research indicates that the United States is somewhat unique. A study by Brown and Stanford universities found that while some peer democracies (such as Canada, the UK, and Germany) have…”
15brown.eduAcademic
brown.edu
Backs: “A study by Brown and Stanford universities found that while some peer democracies (such as Canada, the UK, and Germany) have experienced modest rises in polarization, the U.S. has polarized much faster and more severely than other wealthy democracies over the last 40 years. Summary”