Party Polarization Research Paper

Words: 1125
Pages: 5

Thomas Leonard
American Political Parties
November 10 2016
Party polarization has become a major issue in today’s political landscape, throughout recent decades you begin to notice that the Republican Party has become more conservative and the Democratic Party has become more liberal, this essentially divides the American people and makes it harder for moderates to side with one party or the other. It also makes it harder on government to accomplish objectives because neither party is willing to meet in the middle. The first article I will be reviewing is Party Polarization and “Conflict Extension” in the American Electorate which was written by Geoffrey C. Layman and Thomas M. Carsey. Party Polarization is widely believed to be caused by
…show more content…
This article suggests that there has been a change in recent decades. Previously party leaders had more control over the nominating process, but now because of primaries the control has switched more towards political activists. The article says “Groups of political activists, each championing different issue agendas, have greater access to party politics and can exert substantial pressure on party candidates, office-holders, and platforms to take extreme stands on these multiple agendas in order to piece together a winning electoral coalition”(Layman & Carsey, 2002). This goes along with many things discussed in class concerning primaries, party bosses no longer have the same type of influence on modern day elections as they once did, giving outside voices more of a chance to voice their …show more content…
We learned from class that during this time period the white southerners began to leave the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. Not long after the Democratic Party began to lose its foothold in the south to the Republican Party causing the Democratic Party to become more liberal. The Republican Party also started to become more conservative as well, the article notes that “The Goldwater insurgency created a national cadre of activists like Newt Gingrich who slowly shifted the Republican Party to the right across the whole country”(Hare & Poole, 2014). Not only this but the rise in immigration and the inequality of income also played important roles in party