Table of Contents

Abstract … pg. 3

Thesis & Political Party History … pg. 4

Local & National Statistics for Polarization  … pg. 6

Economic & Historical Causes of Polarization … pg. 9

Alleged Effects on Mental Health … pg. 11

Thesis Conclusion … pg. 13

Visuals for Qualitative Research … pg. 14

Citations … pg. 25

Abstract
This report demonstrates the usage of a popular method and new insight into political polarization within the American public, and whether this polarization causes deep mental and emotional distress. It states a written explanation of the statistical and data findings in regards to the political party separation and the ideological silos between citizens on a national level. It then brings the concept of silos between citizens to a local level with the author, conducting the new method within Legend High School, located in Parker, Colorado, to see if a small scale of teachers and students reflect the depicted data illustrated on the national level. This paper specifies history, structural, and economic causes that furthered political polarization over the past three decades and applies those findings to political interactions on both a national and local level.

Keywords: political polarization, two-party system, partisanship, demographics, ideological, mental health, emotional distress

Thesis & Political Party History

Within a governmental system that caters to the amplification of the voice of the people, polarization between the leading parties that represent that voice shouldn’t be something that is surprising or off-putting, and yet within America’s current political climate, this polarization causes large amounts of distress. Whether you identify as a Democrat, Republican, or a third party follower, emotions such as stress, hopelessness, and depression are commonplace within politics, even more so if you're more involved within local politics—but where does this polarization start (Jacobs, 2018)? Where do the negative emotions begin? Is this directly related to which political party controls the government, or does it start at a local level? No matter which provocation is believed to be at the center of our polarization, the mental strain and distress always seem current in the minds of the people, and the aforementioned mental stress is what can be argued as being the eye of the storm in regards to polarization (Jacobs, 2018).

It is not a secret that America is predominantly run by a two-party system—the two parties in question being the Republican party and the Democratic party. It’s also not a secret that in the beginnings of this country, many of the political figures at that time wanted to avoid having the aforementioned two-party system, believing that this would create an irreversible divide and struggle for power between politicians and the people. With the introduction of the Republican party in 1854 and the induction of Lincoln in 1860, this fear was suddenly becoming a reality (Levendusky, 2017). The function of a political party is as follows: a) a group of people with similar political goals and opinions, and b) to get candidates affiliated with that party elected to public office. This is stated within the definition itself that political parties are based solely on values and morals, and figuring out how to represent the people of America who believe in said values. But along with this extreme want to get candidates elected to office while satisfying the public who share your same principles, an inevitable divide starts to form, and again, this is no secret to the American public or even politicians in office (Mansbridge, 2018).

There’s data that showcases how big that division has grown. In 1994, Democrats and Republicans were divided only by 20% amongst the general public, but by 2017, that percentage jumped to 33-32%. This illustrates a clear picture of how the two biggest political parties are divided along ideological lines than at any point in the last decade, but data also shows that these divisions are greatest amongst those who are most engaged and involved in political processes, which happens to be only 12% of the entire American public (Dimock, 2016). Yet, along with this divide, came the common scene of ideological silos; which are cases in which an individual’s stances on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a particular political party. And along with the amplification of polarization within American politics, comes this idea that a majority of the American public strictly stand to either the “left” or the “right,” when statistical truth showcases that it’s the minority that is representing the majority in this falsehood (Dimock, 2016).

Local & National Statistics For Polarization

With the modernization of news media, the American public has undergone an extreme kind of exposure to how the media relays information to the public. More people have begun to rely on smartphones and computers for news articles, the more controversial topics have become the complete center of political focus (Dixit, 2007). Ideological viewpoints are often what fuels the creation and continuation of political parties--seen within the creation of the Tea Party in 2009--but the advancement of technology has allowed the individual to build entire political identities off of consistent ideological viewpoints. For instance, if an individual is affiliated with the Democratic party, the person is 21% more likely to have mostly Democratic views on what is considered to be controversial topics like social safety nets, homosexuality, racial discrimination, and immigration. This dependency has grown significantly over the last decade--in 2008, only one in ten American were uniformly liberal or conservative across most of the values listed above, but that number nearly tripled to 28% in 2018. Now, there are consistently liberal or conservative expressions across a range of multiple issues within political leadership and representations. There is also the surge in alignments with partisanship within political parties--more Democrats give uniformly liberal responses and Republicans give more conservative response than at any given point in the last 30 years. Since only 28% of the American public have consistent ideological thinking, with the majority expressing a mix of liberal and conservative values, the public minority has had the most influence on political processes throughout history (Dimock, 2016). Due to the exerted representation of said minority on sometimes the most important political processes, America seems extremely divided amongst political ideologies. On the opposing side, the majority has continued to express a mix of these disunited values but continues to have the least impact on who represents those views on high political platforms (Dixit, 2007).

If political polarization is as large of an issue as the media and other public actors lead us to believe, then when does this issue begin? A three week long study conducted at Legend High School was only able to offer a glimpse of how younger polarized populations are unaware of the divisive conflict between them and their peers. To be given some context, Legend High School is a school located in the Douglas School County District in Parker, Colorado. The demographics of the school itself show that the student body is 51% male and 81% white--the overall minority student body population only showed to be 19% of the total amount of enrolled students (USNews, 2014). These demographics are a mirror reflection of the population of the town of Parker, with very little diversity within the workforce, families, and the overall public (City Data, 2008). Therefore, the students at Legend High School were asked a series of 30 questions designed to collect qualitative data that would showcase which side of the political spectrum they leaned towards the most. These questions were asked across an even amount of 40 students ranging from 9th grade to 12th grade, and then approximately 20 teachers and adults were asked the same questions, with the addition of asking how often and in which elections they had voted in. Questions ranging from asking stances on controversial topics stated before, to which American neighborhood they wanted to live in, to whether or not they believed military or diplomacy should be used to achieve peace, were asked of all students. The first group of 20 students showcased that many teenagers aged 14-16 weren’t quite confident in their political stances, but the age groups of 17-19 and 30+ illustrated that they were confident in their political opinions, but only 5% of the surveyed group stated that they only affiliated themselves with one group or the other, and then only 1% of that group stated that they believed the opposing party’s views were so misguided that they were a threat to the nation’s wellbeing. The second group of 20 students illustrated very similar results but with 0.7% more of the students claiming that they believed the opposing party’s views were dangerously misguided. The data and numbers that are illustrated above show even a small group within one of the most conservative towns in Colorado aren’t as polarized in shared ideologies as the media leads us to believe.

Economic and Historical Causes of Polarization

There are also deeper structural and historical causes of political polarization, the first being the signing of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Johnson, which resulted in the southern conservatives leaving the Democratic party and joining the Republican party. This made the Republican party more socially conservative and the Democratic party more socially liberal, but it wasn’t the public who jump-started this polarization. The people did not change their views, but rather the party changed its composition and became more homogenous, resulting in inevitable polarization (Mansbridge, 2018). There was also a period during the late ’60s and early ‘70s, where the public believed there was bipartisanship in the Senate when during that time the Democrats had dominated and gained control of the Senate. The American people had gotten used to referring to the parties as the “sun and moon parties” and the Republican party adapted to being called the moon party (Mansbridge, 2018). They adjusted and then were able to achieve what they wanted for their own personal gains for the benefit of the party--the Democrats needed to be able to reach out to the Republicans because this adjustment and adaptation was not visible on their end. The Democrats themselves were divided and wanted bipartisanship majority because it held “more legitimacy” and therefore lost focus on what the party wanted in terms of legislation and policy (Mansbridge, 2018, p.11). The incentive between these two parties shifted once the Republicans gained control of the House and Senate because the Republicans took advantage of the “insecure majority” and didn’t let the Democrats achieve their own personal gains (Mansbridge, 2018, p.17). The third cause was more monetary based which related to and worsened the rising inequality. Primary candidates began to receive donor offers and money from out of state, which led to out-of-district donors causing more impact on final results than the in-of-district donors did. Candidates had to make appeals to the kind of people who gave money, and those people were not the median voter but rather ones who held more extreme and opposing views (Mansbridge, 2018). Monetary offers pull the candidates away from the center, and this currency based motivation results in candidates becoming much more differentiated from each other in local and national races (Mansbridge, 2018). The public isn’t completely free from fault, seeing as psychological responses to party divide like naive realism, tribalism, and group polarization did a fair amount, if not more, damage to the bipartisanship status upheld once before (Mansbridge, 2018).

Within a governmental system that claims to uphold the voice of the people, polarization between the leading parties that represent that voice should be something to be avoided or rather repaired within any current system, but through multiple conditions, many consider it impossible to achieve. Within America’s current political climate, this polarization has caused large amounts of distress and a level of reality, truth, and unfixable consistency have been accepted. Whether you identify as a Democrat, Republican, or a third party follower, emotions such as stress, hopelessness, and depression are commonplace within politics, even more so if you're more involved within local politics, and it’s not polarization that is the only cause of this. The provocation resulted between our sun and moon parties, the conservatives and liberals, and the media is what is shown to be at the center of the polarization, with the amplification of mental strain and distress always current in the minds of the people--and the aforementioned political party clashes is what is at the eye of the polarization storm.

Alleged Effects on Mental Health

Due to the fact that politics, politicians, and even the state of our government is still what the American people depend on to represent and lead them, the notion of our leaders being divided can lead to large amounts of public panic and distress (Logue, 2012). There are multiple philosophies and reactional emotions that are mainly related to politics and the government’s ability to function, including naive realism, tribalism, and group polarization. Naive realism is the one that is most impactful to these alleged negative mental health effects, and it is what surrounds the media’s message of extreme polarization amongst citizens. By definition, naive realism is the human tendency to believe that we see the world around us objectively, and that people who disagree with us must be misinformed, irrational, or biased. While with some public figures that seems to be the case, this mindset is considered a “veridical” experience, meaning that the overall effects and negative results are due to the subject’s perception, whether that perception is true or false (Logue, 2012). In regards to politics, naive realism play a very large factor in the division between liberal and conservative that the American people are currently experiencing, it is where the concept and belief of “us vs. them” stems from (Levendusky, 2017). Since marginalized groups are experiencing a deeper backlash due to this mindset, the veridical experience of naive realism has led to a greater invocation of anger, distress, and anxiety within everyday life (Logue, 2012). That belief of having a split nation is also thanks to tribalism, the way of thinking or behaving where people are excessively loyal to their tribe or social group. With the introduction of political parties in the mid 1800s’ and the superfluous dependency on these political parties, tribalism has leaked into other areas of life, such as where people choose to live and where they decide to send their children to school (Dimock, 2016). It may not further polarization on a government level, seeing as it is already in affect, but this way of thinking does warp the way of thinking and the amount of willingness that people have in talking with others who have opposing views and morals of their own. A more extreme and concerning form of tribalism and naive realism is group polarization, which is the tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme or contrary than the initial inclination of its members. This specifically relates to political parties and rarely ever the citizens they represent, although said citizens are not subject from group polarization as seen in tribalism and naive realism. It is seen in both the Democratic & Republican party and one of the cultural reasons for the polarization we are experiencing--the signing of The Civil Rights Act in 1964 by President Johnson--and how both of the parties changed their morale viewing and stances on one of the most important issues of the time, furthering away but their initial beliefs (Mansbridge, 2018). This change itself resulted in the Republican party losing its liberal leaning members and the Democratic party losing its conservative leaning members, again, further straying from the initial inclination of its members in the 1800s. By watching the groups that represented them make such a drastic change, many of the conservative southerners of the time followed the Republican party in drifting away from liberal ideologies, and vice versa for those who associated themselves with the Democratic party. At this time, polarization wasn’t as much as a concern as it is now, but as more and more events and other elements aided in continuous polarization.

Thesis Conclusion

Within a system that claims to uphold the voice of the people, polarization between the leading parties that represent that voice should be something to be avoided or rather repaired within any current system, but through multiple conditions, many consider it impossible to achieve. Within America’s current political climate, this polarization has caused large amounts of distress and a level of reality, truth, and unfixable consistency have been accepted. Whether you identify as a Democrat, Republican, or a third party follower, emotions such as stress, hopelessness, and depression are commonplace within politics, even more so if you're more involved within local politics, and it’s not polarization that is the only cause of this. The provocation resulted between our differing parties, the conservatives and liberals, and the media is what is shown to be at the center of the polarization, with the amplification of mental strain and distress always current in the minds of the ordinary people--and the aforementioned political party clashes is what is at the eye of the polarization storm.

Visuals for Qualitative Research

Q1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as President? [IF DK ENTER AS DK. IF DEPENDS PROBE ONCE WITH: Overall do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as President? IF STILL DEPENDS ENTER AS DK]

October 17th - 19th      Approve:           Disapprove:            DK/Ref.

                                            3 9        8

October 20th - 25th            1             11   8

October 26th - 31st            4                        5   11

Q1a. ASK IF APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE: Do you [approve or disapprove] strongly or not strongly?

October 17th - 19th      Strongly:           Not Strongly:            DK/Ref.

                                          12 4           4

October 20th - 25th          13                4  3

October 26th - 31st           10                        5 5

Q2. If you could live anywhere in the United States that you wanted to, would you prefer a city, a suburban area, a small town or a rural area?

October 17th - 19th

0                      City

17                    Suburban area

0                      Small town

3                      Rural area

0                      DK/Refused

October 20th - 25th   

2                      City

14                    Suburban area

2                      Small town

2                      Rural area

0                      DK/Refused

October 26th - 31st        

1 City

12 Suburban area

4 Small town

2 Rural town

1 DK/Refused

Q2a. Imagining that you are moving to another community. In deciding where to live, would each of the following be important, or not too important to you. First, would [INSERT ITEM; RANDOMIZE] be important, or not too important? What about [NEXT ITEM]?

Important Not too important DK/Ref

a. Living in a place where most people share your political views

                                     Important:           Not Important:          DK/Ref.:

October 17th - 19th           2                        14    4

October 20th - 25th           1              16    3

October 26th - 31st           4                         14   2

b. Having high-quality public schools

                                   Important:           Not Important:            DK/Ref.:

October 17th - 19th          19                        0      1

October 20th - 25th          20                0      0

October 26th - 31st           10                        5      5

c. Living in a place with a mix of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds

                                   Important:           Not Important:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          9                         6  5

October 20th - 25th         10                 4  6

October 26th - 31st           8                        5   7

d. Living in a place with many people who share your religious faith

                                    Important:           Not Important:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          4                         9   7

October 20th - 25th          3                11   6

October 26th - 31st           5                        10    5

e. Being near art museums and theaters

                                    Important:           Not Important:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          4                         9   7

October 20th - 25th          3                11   6

October 26th - 31st           5                        10    5

f. Having easy access to the outdoors for things like hiking, fishing, and camping

                                    Important:           Not Important:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          4                         9   7

October 20th - 25th          3                11   6

October 26th - 31st           5                        10    5

g. Being near your extended family

                                      Important:           Not Important:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          2                         11   7

October 20th - 25th          5                10   5

October 26th - 31st           7                        11     2

Q3. Would you say your overall opinion of… [INSERT ITEM; RANDOMIZE] is very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly UNfavorable, or very unfavorable?

Republican Party

                                   Very Fav.:           Very Unfav.:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          3                         7 10

October 20th - 25th          6                4  10

October 26th - 31st          7                         5   8

The Democratic Party

                                    Very Fav.:           Very Unfav.:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          5                         7   8

October 20th - 25th          6                3  11

October 26th - 31st          4                         6  10

Q3a. [IF VERY UNFAVORABLE] Would you say the Republican Party’s policies are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s wellbeing, or wouldn’t you go that far?

                              Threatening.:           Non-Threatening.:         DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          5                          8       7

October 20th - 25th          5                 7       8

October 26th - 31st          1                           8    11

Q3b. [IF VERY UNFAVORABLE] Would you say the Democratic Party’s policies are so misguided that they threaten the nation’s wellbeing, or wouldn’t you go that far?

                                 Threatening.:           Un-Threatening:            DK/Ref.

October 17th - 19th          6                           10        4

October 20th - 25th          6                   5       9

October 26th - 31st          4                            6       10

Q4. I'm going to read you some pairs of statements that will help us understand how you feel about a number of things. As I read each pair, tell me whether the FIRST statement or the SECOND statement comes closer to your own views — even if neither is exactly right. The first pair is [READ AND RANDOMIZE PAIRS BUT NOT STATEMENTS WITHIN EACH PAIR]. Next, [NEXT PAIR] [IF NECESSARY: “Which statement comes closer to your views, even if neither is exactly right?”]

a. Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient:

October 17th - 19th          4                           

October 20th - 25th          3                  

October 26th - 31st          4                           

b. Government often does a better job than people give it credit for

October 17th - 19th          7                           

October 20th - 25th          3           

October 26th - 31st          3                        

c. Government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest:

October 17th - 19th          5                          

October 20th - 25th          5                

October 26th - 31st          4         

d. Government regulation of business usually does more harm than good:

October 17th - 19th          3                           

October 20th - 25th          1                   

October 26th - 31st          2                          

e. Poor people today have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return

October 17th - 19th          6                          

October 20th - 25th          6                   

October 26th - 31st          2                         

f. Poor people have hard lives because government benefits don't go far enough to help them live decently:

October 17th - 19th          3                         

October 20th - 25th          3                  

October 26th - 31st          0                        

g. Racial discrimination is the main reason why many black people can't get ahead these days:

October 17th - 19th          7                       

October 20th - 25th          0                   

October 26th - 31st          4                           

h. Blacks who can't get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition:

October 17th - 19th          1                         

October 20th - 25th          4                  

October 26th - 31st          4                           

i. Immigrants today strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents:

October 17th - 19th          3                           

October 20th - 25th          4                   

October 26th - 31st          1                           

j. Immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing, and health care:

October 17th - 19th          6                           

October 20th - 25th          3                 

October 26th - 31st          1                       

k. The best way to ensure peace is through military strength:

October 17th - 19th          8                           

October 20th - 25th          0                   

October 26th - 31st          5                       

l. Good diplomacy is the best way to ensure peace:

October 17th - 19th          4                          

October 20th - 25th          2              

October 26th - 31st          1                        

m. Business corporations make too much profit

October 17th - 19th          6          

October 20th - 25th          0                   

October 26th - 31st          3                       

n. Most corporations make a fair and reasonable amount of profit

October 17th - 19th          5                    

October 20th - 25th          3                   

October 26th - 31st          3                           

Q5. How often would you say you vote...[READ IN ORDER]?

                                      Always              Sometimes                       Never

October 17th - 19th         19                           1      0

October 20th - 25th          20                  0       0

October 26th - 31st          18                          2       0

Q6. Would you say you follow what's going on in government and public affairs...[READ]?

                                       Always              Sometimes                      Never

October 17th - 19th          6                           10        4

October 20th - 25th          8                   9       3

October 26th - 31st          9                           11          0

Q7. Have you ever contributed money to a candidate running for public office or to a group working to elect a candidate?

                                        Yes                         No                       

October 17th - 19th          2                            18      

October 20th - 25th          6                   14        

October 26th - 31st          4                            16        

Q8. Over the last two years, would you say all of those contributions added up to more than $100 or less than that?

                                        Yes                         No                       

October 17th - 19th          2                           18       

October 20th - 25th          5                  15         

October 26th - 31st          0                            20

Q9. In politics TODAY, do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat, or independent?  

                                        Rep.                         Dem.               Ind.                    

October 17th - 19th          6                              6 8                         

October 20th - 25th          6                     5 9                           

October 26th - 31st          4                              6 10

Q9a. ASK IF REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT: Do you consider yourself a STRONG [Republican/Democrat] or NOT a strong [Republican/Democrat]?

                                        Strong                    Not Strong                    

October 17th - 19th          10                                10

October 20th - 25th          12                          8

October 26th - 31st           4                                  16

Q10. How often would you say you vote in Congressional PRIMARY elections? Would you say you vote in Congressional primary elections [READ IN ORDER]?

                                      Always              Sometimes                       Never

October 17th - 19th          6                           10        4

October 20th - 25th          11                   9       0

October 26th - 31st          4                           16         0

Citations

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Dimock, M. (2016). ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/d-2016-154.pdf. Political Polarization in The American Public,1-124. doi:10.18411/d-2016-154

Dixit, A., & Weibull, J. (2007). Political Polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(18), 7351-7356. Retrieved from jstor.org/stable/25427490

How Does Legend High School Rank Among America's Best High Schools? (n.d.). Retrieved from usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/colorado/districts/douglas-county-school-district-no-re-1/legend-high-school-4112

Jacobs, T. (2018, February 14). The Emotional Roots of Political Polarization. Retrieved from psmag.com/news/emotional-roots-of-political-polarization

Logue, H. (2012). Why Naive Realism? Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f

Lessons from the 2012 Election. (2012, December 04). Retrieved from people-press.org/2012/11/13/lessons-from-the-2012-election/

Levendusky, C. M. (2017, July 11). Research: Political Polarization Is Changing How Americans Work and Shop. Retrieved from hbr.org/2017/05/research-political-polarization-is-changing-how-americans-work-and-shop

Parker, Colorado. (n.d.). Retrieved from city-data.com/city/Parker-Colorado.html

Race and Voting. (2013, June 26). Retrieved from people-press.org/2013/05/19/race-and-voting

President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796). (n.d.). Retrieved from ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=15