[EL] Our republic is gravely sick

[Doug Spencer]

Like many of you, my cheery Saturday morning was interrupted by Rick P's
post highlighting a new and dispiriting poll from the UVa Center for
Politics that measured what has come to be called "affective polarization
<https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034>."
Unlike partisan polarization, which captures disagreements about policy
issues, affective polarization is a term that refers to the growing social
gap between Republicans and Democrats—with increasing numbers of people
describing individuals in the "other" political party as dangerous,
close-minded, and irredeemable. In recent years there has been an uptick in
the number of people who describe members of the out-party in dehumanizing
terms, and who express an unwillingness or fear of socializing with
them. (Parents
are especially wary
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/21/republicans-would-least-like-their-kids-marry-transgender-person-democrats-republican/>
of their kids dating/marrying an out-party individual.)

With this backdrop, list members might be interested in the ongoing
empirical debate about the relationship between affective polarization and
the breakdown of American democracy. In much the same way that empirical
scholarship has complicated the intuition/conventional wisdom that
gerrymandering causes polarization, the empirical scholarship on affective
polarization challenges the reasonable assumption that dehumanizing each
other has created a space for autocratic behavior and tolerance for
political violence. Recent studies also undercut the argument that
mitigating affective polarization will lead to a broad re-commitment to
democratic principles.

Tom Edsall nicely summarizes this empirical scholarship and its
implications in his column last week "How Much Does How Much We Hate Each
Other Matter?
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/opinion/political-polarization-partisanship.html>
"

There's not a lot of cheer here. If solving one bad thing won't fix another
bad thing, then we're stuck with two bad things. All the more reason that
our election laws match the civic virtue (or lack thereof) of those who run
for office and lead our government.

Best,
Doug

-----
*“Our republic is gravely sick. A new poll confirms it.” *
October 2, 2021, 7:28 am <https://electionlawblog.org/?p=124974> Richard
Pildes <https://electionlawblog.org/?author=7>

In case you were having too cheery a Saturday morning. From Henry Olsen,
Wash
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/01/new-poll-confirms-it-our-republic-is-gravely-sick/>ington
Post:

Many Americans are increasingly concerned
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/23/robert-kagan-constitutional-crisis/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2>
that our national heritage, our democratic republic, is seriously in
danger. A new poll
<https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/new-initiative-explores-deep-persistent-divides-between-biden-and-trump-voters/>
from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics confirms that we have
reason to worry — and that the fault is in ourselves, not our political
stars….
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