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GPT-5Sep 6, 2026openai/gpt-5-2025-08-07
Is political polarization worse than it's been in the past?
Leans yesSays it is contested
Do you mean in the United States? If so, here’s the short answer: by most modern measures, yes—polarization is as high or higher than at any time in the last century, though “worse than ever” depends on what you measure and how far back you look.
Key points
•What “polarization” means:
•Elite/legislative polarization: how far apart parties are in elected bodies.
•Mass ideological polarization: how far apart ordinary voters are on policy.
•Affective polarization: how much partisans dislike and distrust the other side.
•United States:
•Congress: Roll‑call data show party-line separation at or above the highest levels observed since the late 19th century. The mid‑20th century (roughly 1940s–1970s) was unusually low; since the 1980s, the parties have sorted and diverged sharply.
•Public ideology: On many policy specifics, average voters have not split into two extreme camps as much as elites have. But partisans have “sorted” so that positions on race, religion, guns, abortion, and climate align more consistently with party.
•Affective polarization: Negative feelings toward the other party have risen markedly since the 1980s and are now near record highs in surveys. People are more willing to see the other side as a threat and are more accepting of hardball tactics.
•Compared with earlier eras: The Civil War/Reconstruction period was more violent and existential; by that standard, today isn’t “worse.” But in terms of measured party separation in Congress and mutual dislike among partisans (since we have modern data), today is at or near the top.
•Other democracies:
•Many have seen rising affective polarization since the 1990s, often tied to national identity, immigration, and urban‑rural divides, though patterns vary. Multiparty systems distribute conflict differently, so “worse than ever” is less uniform.
•Drivers often cited:
•Party sorting and realignment (especially in the US South), nationalization of politics, identity-based coalitions, media fragmentation and social media, geographic sorting, and rising inequality. Gerrymandering and primaries contribute in some contexts but don’t explain all trends.
Bottom line
•If you mean the US: elite polarization is at historic highs in modern records; public dislike across party lines is also unusually high; average policy views are less extreme than elite behavior suggests. Compared with the violent 19th century, today’s conflict is less deadly, but within the modern democratic era, polarization is exceptionally strong.
If you had another country or a specific time period in mind, tell me and I can tailor the comparison.