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

Short answer: Yes, by most measures — especially in the last 15-20 years

Political polarization in the U.S. (and this is the context most data focuses on) is genuinely worse now than at almost any point in the past century, though there are important nuances depending on which type of polarization you're measuring.

Congressional/elite polarization is at modern historical extremes

This is the most measurable and least disputed form. a Pew Research Center analysis finds that, on average, Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than at any time in the past 50 years. Looking back further, 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.

The overlap between the parties has essentially vanished — today, 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican, whereas this was certainly not always true — in the 1960s, you had intervals where about 50 percent of the legislators in the two parties overlapped.

Affective polarization (dislike of the other side) has grown sharply and uniquely in the U.S.

Beyond policy disagreement, Americans increasingly just dislike members of the opposing party. Partisan animosity has increased substantially over the past two decades — in each party, the share with a highly negative view of the opposing party has more than doubled since 1994. By 2022, 62% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats had a very unfavorable view of the other party, a higher percentage than just five years before.

What's notable is this isn't just a global trend — the U.S. stands out. findings from recent studies point to a substantial increase over time in levels of affective polarization in the United States, unparalleled in other democracies, and affect toward other parties decreased more strongly in the United States than in any of the other democracies studied.

Timing: the sharpest rise is more recent than people often assume

Interestingly, research suggests the "culture war" didn't steadily worsen for decades — it accelerated at a specific moment. A Cambridge study found divisions within the US population on social and political issues have increased by 64% since 1988, with almost all this coming after 2008, with researchers noting polarisation almost flatlined during the nineties and noughties before starting in 2008, divisions across the board steadily rose. There's even a glimmer of a plateau: this polarisation may have begun to level off during Biden's term, although it remains far higher than previous decades.

Important caveats

A few scholars push back on the "worst ever" framing:

Bottom line

If you're asking about the last 50-100 years, the answer is clearly yes — polarization (especially among elected officials and in partisan animosity among voters) is higher than at any point in that window. If you're asking about all of U.S. history, the honest answer is "worse than almost any period except the lead-up to the Civil War and Reconstruction" — which is still a sobering comparison, but means it's not literally unprecedented.