POLS206 8 1 13 LECTURE 16 MASS POLARIZATION What is Mass Polarization What are arguments for against Mass Polarization Why might Mass Polarization matter for American Politics Elite polarization Republicans Democrats are sharply divided by ideology Republicans consistently vote conservatively and Democrats consistently vote liberally MC s cluster around 2 ideological poles with very few middle cluster Mass Polarization The idea that the public or some significant portion of it is divided by ideology in a way similar to members of Congress with most people clustered around liberal conservative posititions and fewer moderates or people in the middle Whether Mass Polarization exists or not is a BIG debate among Political Scientists Scholars generally fall into 2 camps o Those who agree with Fiorina and Those who agree with Abramowitz o KNOW THESE NAMES AND WHAT EACH STANDS FOR KEY FIORINA POINTS Mass polarization means the public is as divided as elites The Public is all adult Americans or sometimes ALL voters Mass Polarization DOES NOT EXIST IN AMERICA Most people are ideologically moderate Only appear polarized sometimes because they are forced to choose between extreme elites in elections o Instead in last 20 years public has become better sorted with liberals mostly identifying as democrats and conservative mostly identifying as GOP Republicans o o o o o KEY ABRAMOWITZS KEY POINTS o Mass Polarization means a large part of the public is divided in a manner similar to elites though not quite as much o Mass Polarization exists o Ideological divisions in the public have been increasing for the last 20 years o THE PUBLIC MEANS VOTERS THE POLITICALLY ACTIVE INFORMED THE AMERICANS WHO MATTER POLITICALLY SPEAKING o THE MOST POLITICALLY ACTIVE SEGMENT OF THE PUBLIC IS POLARIZED LIKE ELITES AND CONSTRAINS THE POLITICAL ACTIONS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THROUGH PRIMARY ELECTIONS o TRUE OR PURE INDEPENDENTS ARE A SMALL PART OF THE VOTING PUBLIC AND ARE LESS POLITICALLY ACTIVE THAN PARTISANS WHY THE DEBATE MATTERS If mass polarization exists o Strong reciprocal link b t elite and mass views o o o o Public appreciates political choices presented by elites Politically active Americans are divided Difficult for elites to resolve contentious political problems Public approval of GOVT has lower ceilings and higher floor If mass polarization DOESN T EXIST o Disconnect b t elites and mass public o Only the views of small minority of voters are represented o Most Americans are middle of the road o Elites only need to moderate to solve political problems o Support trust in GOVT trust is especially low today will increases when GOVT moderates RESOLVING THE DEBATE Why is the debate not resolved Both sides argue past each other To make progress in political science competing arguments usually must accept the same basic assumptions Fiorinas definition of mass polarization is different from Abramowitz s Both are correct within the context of their assumptions Whos right o MY STRONGLY HELD OPINION Abramowitz better evidence theory makes no sense o Mass Polarization exists CAUSES OF MASS POLARIZATION 5 potential causes of Mass Polarization o 1 Elites Polarizing 1950 s DEMS GOPS REP in Congress overlapped ideologically much more than today Many liberal in GOP REP LOTS OF CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATS U S PUBLIC IN 1950 s Perceived little difference b t parties on major political issues Voting not driven as much by ideology and issue positions as it is today DEM GOP REP elites are polarizing along ideological lines beginning in the mid 1960s THIS TOOK AWHILE EX FOR 1ST 5 YEARS AS STATE LEGISLATOR UNTIL 1989 RICK PERRY WAS A CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRAT ELITE POLARIZATION IN CONGRESS VERY NOTICEABLY BY EARLY 1990S Meanwhile following polarization among elites Public slowly perceived these differences and resorted into the parties by ideology This took a long time perhaps until early mid 1990s In addition Partisans in public convert to polarized issue positions of their party s elite o 2 Participatory primaries role of activists Beginning in early 1970s Many states started to adopt primary elections for Presidential candidates PRIMARY ELECTIONS REQUIRE CANDIDATES TO MOBILIZE SUPPORT OF STRONG PARTISANS TO WIN As a result Primary candidates start taking ideologically extreme positions To appeal to the motivated partisans who vote in primaries Moderation doesn t always rally people Extremist views WILL Partisan activities aren t only mobilized by primary elections But also converted to more extreme positions by hearing the ideological messages of their party defended Elite forced to be more extreme by primary activists send more extreme messages to non activists as wel Leading to sorting and or polarization among nonactivists Creating a feedback loop o 3 Fragmentation of the media MID 1950s to 1980s Only 3 TV Networks ABC NBC CBS They all showed news at basically the same times People watched news then that today would choose not to The news they received was designed for broad audience not nearly as overtly partisan DURING THIS PERIOD Newspapers were popular also marketed to a broad audience most people received same information That info was probably less ideologically slanted either way than it is today With widespread adoption of cable television creation of CNN FOX in the 1980s Media began to fragment as people gained more choices MARKUS PRIOR 2007 With cable TV THEN INTERNET people could now avoid the news altogether and watch something else Also with more choice people could select from a variety of news FOR ANY NUMBER OF REASONS INCLUDING IDEOLOGY OR PARTISANSHIP INTERNET FACEBOOK TWITTER ETC EXACERBATE SELF SELECTION NOW DEM Liberals GOP REP Conservatives in public receive Different information and political arguments and as much as they want Which polarizes them further Those uninterested in politics can ignore it all o 4 The rise of unelected opinion leaders SINCE 1950s Number of Vocal Unelected political actors who influence U S Politics Interest Groups AARP NRA Mobilize blocs of supporters around political causes Promote particular viewpoints for ideological and financial gain They also constrain Congress Think tanks American Enterprise Institute Cato Institue Serve as policy supports and counterweights to part elites Political talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh Bill Maher Promote a particular ideology Can criticize party elites who stray away from the party line All these opinion leaders Generally Extreme Ideological