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

To answer whether political polarization is worse than in the past, it helps to look at two different timelines: modern history (the last 50 to 80 years) and deep history (the 19th century).

The short answer is that yes, political polarization is worse today than at any point in modern history. However, it is not yet as severe as the deepest fractures of the 19th century, most notably the period leading up to the American Civil War.

Understanding where we stand today requires examining how polarization is measured, how it compares to the past, and why today's divide feels so uniquely intense.

1. The Modern Context: A Steep Rise Since the Mid-20th Century

When people look back warmly on an era of bipartisan cooperation and "political civility," they are usually thinking of the mid-20th century (roughly the 1940s through the 1970s).

During this post-WWII era, political parties were not yet "ideologically sorted":

Because of this overlap, cross-party coalitions were common, and congressional gridlock was much lower. However, historians point out that this bipartisanship was an anomaly in American history and often came at a high cost, as it frequently relied on keeping deeply polarizing issues, such as Civil Rights, off the national legislative floor.

Since the late 1970s and 1980s, polarization has risen dramatically. Political scientists track this using DW-NOMINATE scores (which measure how often members of Congress vote with each other). Today, those scores show that the ideological distance between Democrats and Republicans in Congress is at its widest point in over a century, matching the era of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age.

2. The Rise of "Affective Polarization"

The most alarming change in modern polarization is not necessarily what people believe, but how they feel about the other side. Political scientists refer to this as affective polarization—the tendency of partisans to view members of the opposing party not just as political opponents with different ideas, but as a threat to the nation.

Data from the Pew Research Center highlights how rapidly this has escalated:

Furthermore, research indicates that this trend is uniquely American. While global polarization is rising, studies by economists at Brown and Stanford found that affective polarization has grown far more rapidly in the United States over the last 40 years than in comparable democracies like Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australia.

3. Comparing Today to the 19th Century

While today's division is severe, historians caution against comparing the current climate to the American Civil War (1861–1865).

The Civil War represents the ultimate peak of polarization, caused by a singular, foundational, and existential moral issue—slavery. That polarization was geographically and militarily clean: the country physically split into two warring governments, resulting in the deaths of over 600,000 Americans. Today's polarization is cultural, highly online, and partisan, but it is not organized into geographically separate military factions.

Instead, today's political climate is structurally much closer to the Gilded Age (the late 19th century). In the 1870s and 1880s, the U.S. experienced:

During the Gilded Age, Congress was just as gridlocked as it is now. The country eventually emerged from this period through the Progressive Era and the New Deal, which restructured the economy and helped rebuild social trust over several decades.

Why Does It Feel Worse Now?

Even if we are not on the brink of a physical civil war, several modern factors make today’s polarization feel uniquely exhausting and dangerous:

Conclusion

Is political polarization worse than it has been in the past?

Compared to the last 50 to 80 years, absolutely. We are living through an era of historically high, deeply personal division. However, compared to all of American history, we are not in uncharted territory. The U.S. has survived similar eras of deep division, specifically the Gilded Age, though navigating our way out of the current crisis will require addressing the modern technologies and structural incentives that keep us divided.