Answers

Is today’s divide uniquely bad? I’ll pull historical and recent measures to check. Is political polarization worse than in the past? It depends on what you measure and how far back you look. Short answer: Yes, by almost every modern measure it is worse than it has been in the last 50-70 years, but not necessarily worse than the most divisive periods in American history, like the Civil War era.

Polarization past vs. present — I'll check what current research says. Yes - compared to recent decades, but not compared to all of American history. Worse than the last 50-75 years By most quantitative measures of the modern era, polarization is at a high point: Previous research suggests that political polarization in the United States is more pronounced now than in the past -- at least am