Partisan Polarization Essay

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In recent years, Congress has become increasingly polarized. The definition of partisan polarization is the separation of the two major parties as they move towards more extreme issue positions. Some theories on why this political phenomenon is occurring now claim that this polarization is due to: a return to the “natural” state of government; the increase in polarization of the electorate since the Southern Realignment; the increase of polarization in the media; and gerrymandering. The increase of partisan polarization in Congress has various consequences for American policy and politics, including congressional gridlock and the inability of the legislative and executive branches to get anything substantial done in terms of policy, and increasing …show more content…

government is not operating as the framers intended it to. One negative consequence (that is, bad for American politics and policy) of polarization in Congress is Congressional gridlock. The legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government are dependent on one another – if the President wants to get something done, they must send it through Congress (with the rare exception of giving an executive order). In Jacobson’s research, he states that he, “expect[ed] a decline [of] support for the president among opposition party members of [C]ongress to be associated with a decline in the overlap between the electoral constituencies of the president and the opposition party members” (Jacobson 2002, 6). In other words, Jacobson hypothesized that as Congress becomes more polarized, House members and Senators will be less sympathetic towards the president because they won’t have the same, or even similar, views on issues. His research supported this hypothesis. (Jacobson 2002). …show more content…

This occurs when there is partisan polarization in Congress, and neither party has a large enough majority to overcome filibusters (from the minority party) or vetoes / executive orders (from the president). Thus, the majority party will not be “major” enough to overcome the polarization, break gridlock, and take control (Jones 2001). In a non-polarized Congress, this would be a nonexistent problem. But one consequence of an almost equally-divided polarized Congress is that gridlock is that much harder to overcome when neither party can either come to a compromise, nor overpower the other party. Party seat division therefore contributes to partisan polarization in

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