Political Polarization in the U.S.: The Effect of Globalization

INTRODUCTION
Democracy has been regarded as the best system of government out of the whole span of imperfect options available. Its beauty comes from the importance given to the free individual contribution towards a wholesome societal growth, which is done in part through the establishment of one of the most sacred rights in any democratic society: the right to vote. Although it thrives from this diversity of opinions, tolerance is key to guarantee societal progress. Nowadays, many scholars argue for the existence of a certain political polarization, with politics in the Unites States (U.S.) having become a text-book example of such separation. President Trump’s mandate brought about a new wave of interest on the subject, with the media often stirring talks about the radicalization of politics as a possible consequence of said separation.

Political polarization is the divergence of ideological beliefs from the median of the political spectrum, representing some kind of continuous movement towards the political extremes. This idea of polarization applied to American politics, meaning that individuals have stopped supporting moderate positions and radically moved towards the extreme of either the Democratic or the Republican side, makes it necessary to understand whether such a separation could lead to an increase in political tension, setting the ground for further fragmentation of the American electorate, or help to better distinguish the candidates and policies of each party. (Layman, et al., 2006; Pierson, et al., 2020)

AUTHORS:
Daniel Mugeiro da Silva
Diogo Conceição

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