"The costs of policy inaction, and the increasing ideological purity of the parties, threaten to fracture the current system."

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Let’s reduce polarized politics
By Chris Mehl, September 24, 2014

For years, I’ve joined other Montanans in taking solace in the idea that while Congress and Washington, D.C., may be polarized, out here in the Big Sky that simply was not the case.

Sadly, I’m no longer so sure. Increasingly, Americans from all states and geographies are moving apart ideologically.

Vigorous debate strengthens democracy, but our nation’s rising polarization creates a number of challenges at national, state and local levels. How we respond — to work together, or apart — will play a large role in the future we create for the next generation.

Earlier this year, an in-depth poll of more than 10,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center found “Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines — and partisan acrimony is deeper and more extensive — than at any point in recent history.”

Political parties are now much more consistent ideologically with little overlap between them. Today, 92 percent of Republicans are more conservative than the median Democrat; and 94 percent of Democrats are more liberal than the median Republican. Twenty years ago, the numbers were 64 percent and 70 percent respectively.

Party purity similarly has grown: 33 percent of engaged Republicans express consistently conservative views, up from 10 percent ten years ago. For Democrats, 38 percent are consistent liberals, up from 8 percent in 1994.

This trend also happened geographically. A shrinking number of states, for example, are contested between presidential candidates. In my town, a small split divided Bozeman and the rest of Gallatin County in 2000 when voting for Bush or Gore. By 2012, the separation in the presidential vote between Bozeman and the county had grown significantly.

Furthermore, the share of each party that negatively views the other has doubled since 1994. Cooperation is akin to capitulation.

Increasingly, political leaders and supporters hold predetermined conclusions. This limits compromise, making it exceedingly difficult to reach long-term or nuanced decisions that involve complex factors and trade-offs such as tax reform, education overhaul or modernizing entitlements. The perfect has become the enemy of the good.

At the same time, the middle shrunk. Today, 39 percent of Americans hold a roughly equal number of conservative and liberal positions, down from 49 percent 10 years ago.

Moderates already are much less likely to vote, or give money or time to political campaigns, compared to across-the-board conservatives or liberals.

Office holders now are more responsive party wings — those who hold disproportionate influence over nominations, campaign funding, volunteers and other political necessities.

A danger of these polarizing trends is that a governor or president will have a much harder time sustaining the leadership necessary to represent all constituents.

The costs of policy inaction, and the increasing ideological purity of the parties, threaten to fracture the current system. Politics means debate, discussion, and disagreement, but good policy also means that eventually we must cooperate. Building a better future depends on it.
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