Political Polarization

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The significant increase in political polarization in recent years has negatively impacted today’s society. These impacts are not limited to overarching political issues but have unexpectedly invaded our most personal relationships. This paper will present available statistics to identify the increased political polarization and analyze how this increased tension has affected society and our personal relationships. The current polarization of conservative and liberal political groups can first be shown by examining the news sources used by each of these groups. According to the Pew Research Center’s “Political Polarization & Media Habits” article, conservatives and liberals do not use the same new sources for news about government …show more content…
But even something as simple as a news source can impact personal aspects of society and even relationships. The same article also examined how political views impact online relationships on Facebook. The Pew Research Center found that conservatives are more likely than those in any other ideological groups to see political opinions that are in line with their own views on Facebook. They are also more likely to have friends who share their own political views. About 66% of conservatives state that the majority of their close friends share the same views as them on government and politics. Ironically, liberals, who tend to promote their openness and acceptance of diversity, are more likely than those in any other ideological groups to block or “unfriend” someone on a social network, as well as to end a personal friendship because of different political views. Around four in ten (44%) of consistent liberals say that they have unfriended or blocked someone on social media because they disagreed with something that person posted about politics. Only around 31% of consistent conservatives and only 26% of all Facebook users have done the same. Similarly, consistent liberals are more likely to stop talking to someone because of politics. Around a quarter (24%) of consistent liberals have done this while only 16% of consistent conservatives and roughly 10% of …show more content…
McCormick explained that although she knew her husband was a republican, she never thought of leaving him before then. She described his want for Donald Trump to become president as a “deal breaker”. “It’s causing tensions that I’ve not heard about in past elections” a family social science professor at the University of Minnesota named Bill Doherty even stated. Statistics also back up claims that political arguments between family and friends have gone up since the election of Donald Trump. The Reuters/Ipos poll polled 6,426 people from December 27, 2016 to January 18, 2017, to examine political fights between family and friends before, during, and after the election. This poll showed that pre-election only 33% of respondents said they argued with family and friends over politics, but, at the height of the campaign in October, it was shown that this number increased by 6% now showing the percentage of people to have political arguments with family and friends to be 39%. This poll also showed that around 16% of their respondents had stopped communication with a friend or family member because of the 2016 election, which is much higher than the pre-election percentage of 15%. For Hillary Clinton voters, the number got even higher, around 22% of those who voted for her said they had stopped
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