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GPT-5Sep 28, 2026openai/gpt-5-2025-08-07
Is political polarization worse than it's been in the past?
Short answer: In the United States, polarization is higher today than it’s been in the late 20th century, but it isn’t “the worst ever” if you look back to the mid‑19th century.
How to think about it
•Elite (Congress/party) polarization: Roll‑call voting shows the parties in Congress have pulled apart steadily since the late 1970s, with fewer moderates and more party‑line voting than at any time since the early 20th century. That’s near a modern high.
•Mass ideological sorting: Voters are more consistently “all‑left” or “all‑right” across issues than in the 1950s–1970s, with far fewer conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans. Split‑ticket voting has fallen to historic lows.
•Affective polarization: Feelings toward the other party have grown markedly colder since the 1980s; people are more likely to see the out‑party as a threat and less willing to socialize, date, or hire across party lines. This is also near a modern high.
•Geography: Communities have grown more politically homogeneous over recent decades, producing more “safe” districts and fewer competitive ones.
Important caveats
•Compared with the 1850s–1860s (the run‑up to and during the Civil War) and parts of Reconstruction, today’s polarization involves far less routine political violence and open constitutional breakdown. By that standard, the past was “worse.”
•Mid‑20th‑century America (roughly 1940s–1970s) looked less polarized partly because the parties were internally diverse and cross‑cutting on issues like civil rights; that era is the outlier, not the norm.
•Outside the U.S., trends vary: Many democracies have seen rising “affective” polarization since the 1990s, but the levels and timing differ by country.
Bottom line
•Versus the post‑World War II decades, U.S. polarization—especially in Congress and in how partisans feel about each other—is at or near a modern peak.
•Versus the most tumultuous periods of the 19th century, today’s polarization is less violent but more cleanly sorted along party lines.
If you’re thinking about a country other than the U.S., or you want charts on any one measure (Congress, public opinion, geography), tell me which and I’ll tailor the answer.