Political polarization is exaggerated

Traditional media contributes to this phenomenon by focusing on issues in conflict at the expense of issues where there is more consensus and commonality. The media likes conflict, and this give everyone a distorted view of how much polarization there actually is. For example, when you ask Democrats and Republicans to estimate the portion of the other side that would agree with reasonable positions typically associated with your own side there is a perception gap of 25% on average. For example, if you ask Democrats how may Republicans would agree with the statement: “Racism is still a problem in America” they predict 50% will agree, while 78% do. And if you ask Republicans how many Democrats would agree with the statement: “Law abiding citizens should have the right to bear arms,” there is a 24% perception gap (46% compared to 70%). The other side is far more reasonable, with more nuanced opinions, than we assume. This perception gap is not affected by education levels. It is, however, increased by consuming partisan media and sharing political news on social media. The most impressive effect comes from where people get their news. The more partisan cable news networks, radio shows, and social media outlets are associated with an increase in the perception gap among their viewers, while the old-school ABC, CBS, NBC news outlets actually decrease the perception gap. This may have something to do with the fact that the older news networks established their culture during the FCC mandated fairness doctrine, while many of the newer ones came into existence partly as a reaction to getting rid of the fairness doctrine.