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

Polarization today feels worse — I'll check whether data shows it's historically unprecedented.

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

Scholars distinguish two types in the United States: ideological polarization (differences between policy positions) and affective polarization (dislike and distrust of political out-groups), and political polarization is a prominent component of politics in the United States.

What the recent data shows: a modern high point

•Since the 1970s, and especially since the 2000s: Polarization has increased since the 1970s, with rapid increases in polarization during the 2000s onwards. Polarization among U.S. legislators is asymmetric, as it has primarily been driven by a rightward shift among Republicans in Congress.

Data on voting patterns highlights how severe polarization has become since the 1970s. Between 1930 until the middle of the 1970s, the differences between typical Democratic and Republican legislators was small, they frequently voted across party lines, and there were large numbers of conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans. Since then that has become much rarer.

•Since the 1990s: From 1994 to 2014, the share of Americans who expressed either "consistently liberal" or "consistently conservative" opinions doubled from 10% to 21%. In the same period, members of both parties who have unfavorable opinions of the opposing party doubled between 1994 and 2014, while those who have very unfavorable opinions of the opposing party are at record highs as of 2022.

Pew Research Center data is often cited: From 1994 to 2022, the percentage of Republicans with a "very unfavorable" view of the Democratic party has risen from 21% to 62%. When Pew started the survey in 1987 the average difference was 10 percentage points; in 2012, it was 18 percentage points.

A summary view: As of 2025, polarization was higher than any point in current history, causing less collaboration and mutual understanding between Democrats and Republicans. One expert summarized: "Partisan polarization is worse today than it has been in 100 years," said Cornell Clayton, director of The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at WSU.

•The post-2008 surge: The University of Cambridge's Political Psychology Lab analyzed opinions over almost four decades, and found polarization almost flatlined during the nineties and noughties, before spiking heavily between 2008 and 2020.

•Faster than other democracies: Political polarization among Americans has grown rapidly in the last 40 years—more than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia or Germany. Researchers present the first ever multi-nation evidence on long-term trends in "affective polarization"—a phenomenon in which citizens feel more negatively toward other political parties than toward their own. They found that in the U.S., affective polarization has increased more dramatically since the late 1970s than in the eight other countries they examined.

Using a "feeling thermometer" from 0 to 100, they found that in 1978, the average American rated the members of their own political party 27 points higher than members of the other major party. By 2016, Americans were rating their own party 45.9 points higher than the other party.

Several factors have served to push Americans further apart over the last four decades, and America is perhaps more polarized in the 21st century than it has been since the Civil War, including the advent of the 24 hour news cycle, the rise of infotainment and partisan media.

Not worse than all of American history

Historians point to earlier peaks that were as bad or worse:

•The Gilded Age of the late 19th century (c. 1870 – 1900) is considered to be one of the most politically polarized periods in American history, with open political violence and highly polarized political discourse.

•The most divisive period is widely considered the decade before the Civil War. "The most divisive time in our history was in the years leading up to the Civil War,"... "In the mid-19th Century, differences were so profound representatives carried weapons into Congress."

•University of Virginia Civil War historian Gary W. Gallagher says that current divisions pale in comparison to those of the mid-19th century. Between Abraham Lincoln's election in November 1860 and the surrender of Robert E. Lee's Confederate army at Appomattox in April 1865, the nation literally broke apart.

In contrast, the 1950s and 1960s were marked by high levels of political bipartisanship, the results of a post-World War II "consensus", so polarization today is much worse than that mid-20th century low point.

Why the perception may exceed reality

Research complicates the "everyone is polarized" narrative:

•Political polarization is commonly measured using the variation of responses on an individual issue in the population: more variation corresponds to more people on the extremes and fewer in the middle. By this measure, research has shown that - despite many commentators' concerns about increased polarization in recent decades - Americans' attitudes have become no more variable over the past two or three decades.

•Other research suggests that Americans are less polarized than they think, and that there is "significant ideological overlap and agreement on policies." Although Americans are less ideologically polarized than they believe, they are very emotionally polarized (also known as affective polarization). In other words, "they do not like members of the other party."

•Polarization in American politics is primarily a phenomenon among Americans who are deeply involved in politics and very expressive about their political views. Americans who are not as involved in politics are not as polarized. Morris Fiorina argues that the American public is not as polarized as is often assumed, suggesting that elite polarization is wrongly imputed to the general public.

Bottom line

If "the past" means the last 50-100 years of polling and congressional voting data: yes, polarization — especially affective polarization, dislike and distrust of the other side — is at or near historic highs, and the U.S. is polarizing faster than comparable democracies since the late 1970s.

If "the past" means all of U.S. history: no, it is not worse than the sectional crisis that led to the Civil War, which involved literal national breakup and widespread political violence, and is roughly comparable to the Gilded Age.

Citations (3)

1wikipedia.orgEncyclopedias and referencequality 0.83
Political polarization in the United States
Backs: “Polarization today feels worse — I'll check whether data shows it's historically unprecedented. Yes, by most modern measures — but with important historical nuance. Scholars distinguish two types in the United States: ideological polarization (differences between policy positions) and affective polarization (dislike…”
2baypath.eduAcademic
Divided America – HIS115 – US History Since 1870
Backs: “legislators is asymmetric, as it has primarily been driven by a rightward shift among Republicans in Congress. Data on voting patterns highlights how severe polarization has become since the 1970s. Between 1930 until the middle of the 1970s, the differences between typical Democratic and Republican legislators was…”
3phys.orgNews and mediaquality 0.85
US is polarizing faster than other democracies, study finds
Backs: “The post-2008 surge: The University of Cambridge's Political Psychology Lab analyzed opinions over almost four decades, and found polarization almost flatlined during the nineties and noughties, before spiking heavily between 2008 and 2020. Faster than other democracies: Political polarization among Americans has…”