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

Polarization past vs present — I'll pull comparative survey data to see how today measures against earlier eras.

Yes, by most modern measures — but with important historical nuance.

By measures of the last 50-100 years, yes it is worse

•Scholars note that as of 2025, polarization was higher than any point in current history, causing less collaboration and mutual understanding between Democrats and Republicans

•A Pew Research Center analysis from 2022 found the perception that polarization has increased is correct: Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than at any time in the past 50 years

•The number of ideological moderates in Congress has collapsed. In the 117th U.S. Congress from 2021 to 2023, there were about two dozen moderate Democrats and Republicans. For comparison, there were more than 160 moderates five decades earlier during the 92nd U.S. Congress from 1971-1972

•Pew provides longitudinal measures of "affective" polarization - very unfavorable views of the opposing party:

> In 1994 , only 17% of Republicans and 16% of Democrats reported very unfavorable views of the opposing party. By 2016 , those numbers had risen to 58% of Republicans and 55% of Democrats . By 2022, 62% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats reported very unfavorable views of the opposing party

Other summaries of the same Pew data note political polarization — defined as percentage of voters who view their counterparts in the opposing party as "very unfavorable" — has soared from about 20 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2020

•An earlier Pew values survey found Americans' values and "basic beliefs are more polarized along partisan lines than at any point in the past 25 years." The average percentage point difference on questions about political values has surged during the Bush and Obama years. When Pew started the survey in 1987 the average difference was 10 percentage points; in 2012, it was 18 percentage points

•Outside the Beltway summarizing the Pew polarization study noted Republicans and Democrats find themselves more politically divided now than at any time in the past twenty years, with a Pew poll finding Americans more polarized now than they were twenty years ago in all ten policy issues asked

•Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute, was quoted: "Partisan polarization is worse today than it has been in 100 years,"

By measures of Congressional voting, currently the most polarized since Reconstruction / Civil War

Researchers use NOMINATE scores - a method to measure legislators’ liberal-conservative positions based on their roll call voting records

•Following a period of a much more balanced Congress during the middle of the 20th century, ideological distance between the parties began to grow during the 1970s to the extent that Congress is now more polarized than at any time since the late 1870s Reconstruction Era

•Similarly: During the past 40 years the political parties have steadily diverged ideologically to the point that they are further apart than at any time since the end of Reconstruction

•The NOMINATE data generated shows that partisan elites in the U.S. are as polarized today as they were around the time of the Civil War, it suggests that there is a huge gulf in the middle that’s not being responded to by the two parties

Other analysis phrased it: By this measure, Congress is now more polarized than at any point since the end of Reconstruction leading some analysts such as Christian Grose at USC to suggest that elite polarization today is equal to that during the Civil War itself

Overlap between the parties has also disappeared: Today, the overlap interval is zero. "In the 1960s, for instance, you had intervals where about 50 percent of the legislators in the two parties overlapped."

By the very long view of American history, no — earlier eras were more violently divided

Historians caution against calling it the most divided ever:

•For all the hype about the ruptures and partisan rancor in contemporary American society, the strife pales in comparison with much of the nation's past. There have been long stretches of American history in which conflicts were far worse

•According to American political history expert Randall Miller, it's not even close: "The most divisive time in our history was in the years leading up to the Civil War," he says. "In the mid-19th Century, differences were so profound representatives carried weapons into Congress."

The distinction is often made between types of polarization:

•Ideological polarization — distance on policy issues — is at a modern high but still building decade over decade

•Affective polarization — disliking and distrusting the other side as people — is now the dominant form. Research notes thermometer scores today are the lowest they have ever been in the nearly 50 years since the measure existed, and scholars describe that we don't just disagree more — we dislike each other more

In short: If "the past" means the last 50-100 years covered by systematic polling and roll-call voting data, polarization is clearly worse today than at any point in that period. If "the past" includes the Civil War, Reconstruction, and other eras of violent sectional conflict, today's polarization is extreme for a peacetime democracy, rivaling but not yet exceeding the existential divisions that led to civil war.

Citations (3)

1wcbe.orgNews and media
It's Not Your Imagination: Americans Are More Polarized, Says Pew
Backs: “Other summaries of the same Pew data note political polarization — defined as percentage of voters who view their counterparts in the opposing party as "very unfavorable" — has soared from about 20 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2020. An earlier Pew values survey found Americans' values and "basic beliefs are more…”
2outsidethebeltway.comNot yet classified
American Politics Is More Polarized Than Ever
Backs: “When Pew started the survey in 1987 the average difference was 10 percentage points; in 2012, it was 18 percentage points. Outside the Beltway summarizing the Pew polarization study noted Republicans and Democrats find themselves more politically divided now than at any time in the past twenty years, with a Pew poll…”
3usc.eduAcademic
Political polarization at its worst since the Civil War
Backs: “Foley Institute, was quoted: "Partisan polarization is worse today than it has been in 100 years,". By measures of Congressional voting, currently the most polarized since Reconstruction / Civil War. Researchers use NOMINATE scores - a method to measure legislators’ liberal-conservative positions based on their roll…”