Asymmetrical Polarization of Politicians
How the US electoral system masks a progressive populace
If you’ve read anything about American politics in the past decade, you’ll likely have read something about political polarization. This framing can be misleading, as it’s natural to think of polarization as being at the two far ends. This isn’t exactly how it plays out when talking about political polarization.
It’s not simply that Republicans have moved politically much further right than Democrats have moved left in the same amount of time, but that Republicans have embraced division and obstruction as a platform.
Republicans fit right in with far-right authoritarian governments seen elsewhere in the world, with political modelling showing their closest neighbour being the Law and Justice Party of Poland, which once winning power, packed the courts, silenced media, and eliminated minority rights.1
This data was from 2019. The 2020 election saw Republicans dispute and try to overturn the results, including the attack on the capitol on Jan 6, 2020. Following Jan 6, 147 Republicans voted to overturn the election.2 Since then, Republicans have been working to make sure that their next attempt, if necessary, will not fail.3
At the 2020 Republican National Convention, the party did not write a platform.4 This makes sense from the perspective that the few things that Republicans do want to accomplish are widely unpopular.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act only had 22% public support in 2017.5 In the same year, Trump’s proposal to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% had only 34% support.6 Just 18% support Texas’ anti-abortion law.7
Democrats opposed all those bills, so that is by definition the more popular position, but proactive Democratic policies also tell the same story. 62% support increasing the federal minimum wage to $15/hour.8 68% support a public health insurance option.9 90% of the public supports universal background checks when buying firearms.10 And by contrast on the policy front, the DNC Party Platform is very robust.11
We can see everything involved — Republican extremism, a progressive populace, and conservative political success — in the 2018 and 2020 elections in Florida. Despite Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott winning in the 2018 midterms, voters passed referendums requiring at least 60% of the vote to increase the minimum wage to $1512 and to allow those with felony convictions to be able to vote13 (both policies opposed by the Republican party including all those mentioned). Then in response, Florida Republicans proceeded to defy the voters and implement further barriers before those with felony convictions could vote.14 In the 2020 elections, Trump proceeded to win Florida for a second time.15
A pertinent question to answer when comparing the polarization between parties is to look at what policies each party has that would be considered “extreme”, as well as what policies are associated with each party regardless of actual support among the party leaders.
Trump lead a mob to attack the capital, followed by 147 Republicans voting to overturn the election.16 They enacted policies to remove trans children from their parents in Texas17 and forcibly detransition trans youth in Alabama.18 They oppose all gun control.19 They want to repeal the Affordable Care Act including protections for pre-existing conditions.20 They want to criminal abortion.21
Policies considered extreme for the Democratic side appear to be policies that largely do not have leadership support, or are entirely fabricated. There isn’t much data here, so evidence will be more anecdotal. An example of trying to equivocate, a 2019 Atlantic op-ed states,22
“If you want to understand just how radicalized the Democratic Party has become in recent years, look at the ascent of Senator Bernie Sanders”.
Bernie Sanders, of course, does not a Democratic congress make, and also failed to gain the nomination in 2016 and 2020. So even if the premise were accepted that the position of Sanders are extreme, they are not representative. If we look at the policy positions provided in the piece, we get only policies he advocated for in 1970,23 which were calling for the nationalization of energy and communication companies and banks, and the highest tax bracket being 100% (for reference, the top tax bracket was 70% in 1970, down from a high of 91% in 196324).
I personally tried to get an answer to this question when I protested the claim that both parties were the same a few years ago. When pressed, the example I got of extremism from Democrats was reparations. Regardless of whether you think it’s a good policy, it isn’t one supported by the majority of Democrats in congress. Kamala Harris did have a reparations plan when running for the 2020 Presidential nomination, but that was not a typical conception of reparations and did not call for direct cash payments.25 Biden only supported studying the issue further.26
Contrast these examples for Democrats to the ones demonstrable for Republicans. Even if you were to take the claims about Democrats at face value, the options are public utilities and money for black people, versus no healthcare for anyone and the genocide of trans people. Maybe you don’t like those examples and it’s gun control vs no healthcare coverage. Or fewer police vs criminalization of abortion. It is evident at its face that there is no comparison.
Pithy conventional wisdom and haughty centrism is often dependent on vagueness of details. Seriously evaluating any proposition of equivocation of Democrats and Republicans shows it to fail at every level.
Beauchamp, Z. (2020, September 22). The Republican Party is an authoritarian outlier. Vox. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21449634/republicans-supreme-court-gop-trump-authoritarian
Yourish, K., Buchanan, L. & Lu, D. (2021, January 7). The 147 Republicans Who Voted to Overturn Election Results. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html
Tribe, L. (2022, January 3). The risk of a coup in the next US election is greater now than it ever was under Trump https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/03/risk-us-coup-next-us-election-greater-than-under-trump. The Guardian.
Prokop, A. (2020, August 24). Why Republicans didn’t write a platform for their convention this year. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2020/8/24/21399396/republican-convention-platform-2020-2016
Guskin, E., & Clement, S. (2017, July 28). Republicans’ Obamacare repeal was never really that popular. Washington Post; The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/28/republicans-obamacare-repeal-was-never-really-that-popular/
Corporate tax cut unpopular with voters, poll shows. (2017, September 6). POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/06/poll-corporate-tax-cut-is-it-popular-242369
PBS NewsHour. (2021, October 4). Where Americans stand on abortion restrictions as a new Supreme Court term opens. PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/most-americans-oppose-abortion-laws-that-let-private-citizens-sue-new-poll-says
Dunn, A. (2021, April 22). Most Americans support a $15 federal minimum wage. Pew Research Center; Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/22/most-americans-support-a-15-federal-minimum-wage/
Galvin, G. (2021, March 24). About 7 in 10 Voters Favor a Public Health Insurance Option. Medicare for All Remains Polarizing. Morning Consult; Morning Consult. https://morningconsult.com/2021/03/24/medicare-for-all-public-option-polling/
https://www.snopes.com/author/dan. (2022, May 25). Do 90% of Americans Want Universal Background Checks for Gun Buys? Snopes.com. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/90-percent-want-background-checks/
Party Platform - Democrats. (2020, August 29). Democrats. https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/
Florida Just Passed A $15 Minimum Wage. Is The Time Right For A Big Nationwide Hike? (2020, November 18). NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/934476124/florida-just-passed-a-15-minimum-wage-is-the-time-right-for-a-big-nationwide-hik
Over 1 Million Florida Felons Win Right To Vote With Amendment 4. (2018, November 7). NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/07/665031366/over-a-million-florida-ex-felons-win-right-to-vote-with-amendment-4
Levine, S. (2020, August 6). How Republicans gutted the biggest voting rights victory in recent history. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/06/republicans-florida-amendment-4-voting-rights
https://www.facebook.com/politico. (2020). Live election results: 2020 Florida results. @Politico. https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/florida/
Capitol Riot Investigations. (2022). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/us-capitol-riots-investigations
Bouranova, A. (2022, March 3). Explaining the Latest Texas Anti-Transgender Directive. Boston University; BU Today. https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/latest-texas-anti-transgender-directive-explained/
Milton, J. (2022, May 10). Alabama teen facing “forced detransition” under healthcare ban makes urgent plea to lawmakers. PinkNews | Latest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans News | LGBT+ News; PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBT+ news. https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/05/10/alabama-trans-healthcare-ban/
Why Republicans Won’t Budge on Guns. (2022). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/us/republicans-gun-control.html
Riotta, C. (2017, July 29). GOP Aims To Kill Obamacare Yet Again After Failing 70 Times. Newsweek; Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/gop-health-care-bill-repeal-and-replace-70-failed-attempts-643832
Klein, C. (2022, May 8). Mitch McConnell Acknowledges a National Abortion Ban Is “Possible” if “Roe” Is Overturned. Vanity Fair; Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/mitch-mcconnell-acknowledges-a-national-abortion-ban-is-possible-if-roe-is-overturned
Wehner, P. (2019, April 3). The Atlantic. The Atlantic; theatlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/progressivism-making-democrats/586372/
Kaczynski, A., & McDermott, N. (2019, March 14). Bernie Sanders in the 1970s urged nationalization of most major industries. CNN; CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/politics/kfile-bernie-nationalization/index.html
Tax Foundation. (2021, August 24). Tax Foundation. https://taxfoundation.org/historical-income-tax-rates-brackets/
Rodriguez, B. (2019, August 11). Kamala Harris on reparations for slavery: 'It can’t just be, “Hey ... write some checks.” The Des Moines Register; The Des Moines Register. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/08/11/kamala-harris-reparations-iowa-register-editorial-board-iowa-fair-disparities-caucus-election/1981037001/
Reparations bill tests Biden and Harris on racial justice. (2021, February 17). POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/17/slavery-reparations-bill-469165