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GPT-5Nov 3, 2026openai/gpt-5-2025-08-07
Is political polarization worse than it's been in the past?
Short answer: In the United States, polarization today is higher than during most of the post–World War II era, but it isn’t the highest in all of U.S. history.
How it’s worse than the mid‑20th century
•Elected officials: The ideological gap between Democrats and Republicans in Congress has widened steadily since the late 1970s; there’s now almost no overlap between the parties’ voting records.
•The public’s feelings: “Affective” polarization—how much partisans dislike and distrust the other side—has risen markedly since the late 1970s. Straight‑ticket voting and negative partisanship are at or near modern highs.
•Sorting: Voters are more consistently aligned (views, identity, media, geography) with one party, and there are far fewer split‑ticket outcomes and swing counties than a few decades ago.
Important nuance
•Not unprecedented: Periods like the 1850s–60s (run‑up to the Civil War) and, in different ways, the late 1960s–early 1970s, featured deeper sectional conflict and more political violence than today.
•Mass ideology vs. elites: Ordinary Americans are not uniformly more “extreme” on every policy; many remain moderate but are better “sorted” so that their issue positions line up with party identity.
•Asymmetry: Many scholars find Republicans in Congress have moved right more than Democrats have moved left over recent decades, though this point is debated.
Outside the U.S.
•Many democracies have seen some rise in affective polarization, but patterns vary. The U.S. stands out for the sharpness of elite polarization in a two‑party system; multi‑party systems often experience fragmentation more than two‑camp polarization.
If you tell me the country and time period you care about most, I can share specific trend lines and the latest data.