Last week's Economist has a column on how polarizing our politics have become. The last paragraph is particularly interesting:
A majority of Republicans (56%) approved of Jimmy Carter’s job performance in late March 1977. A majority of Democrats (55%) approved of Richard Nixon’s job performance at a comparable point in his first term.
He compares this to Obama's current approval rating amongst Republicans which is a shockingly low 22%.
There are a lot of explanations for this change in political attitudes over the last few decades. Lexington seems to blame the rise of political media celebrities (Huffington, Rush, Beck, etc.) as well as the news cycle, but I'm not convinced it's entirely to blame. Either way, this column paints a pretty dark picture for reasonable American politics.
What do you think are the causes of this polarization? How should it be stopped? Should it be stopped?
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