Political partisanship, once primarily the driver in voter attitudes about presidents, is now ripping the country apart, with each side believing that if the other side wins, America will be destroyed.
A “deep dive” into 34 years of polling by NBC and the Wall Street Journal has revealed that partisans are tremendously split on key national issues and that extremes have hardened over time.
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“We hear a lot about growing voter polarization and the increasing difference between the Republican and Democratic Party and its candidates on public policy issues,” said pollster Bill McInturff.
“What we do not see, read, or hear enough about is the data to demonstrate the truth in the statement behind the increasing gap between the supporters of the two parties on a host of public policy issues,” added McInturff, the GOP half of the team that conducts the polls.
In a memo, he looked at several issues and found, for example, that neither side wants to give in to the other. He also found that the makeup of Republicans and Democrats has changed over time and that, remarkably, they have switched places in some ways.
NBC POLL: The composition of the Republican party has shifted significantly over the decade
Total GOP Non-College Whites:
2012 — 48%
2022 — 62%Total GOP College + Whites:
2012 — 40%
2022 — 25%https://t.co/WAO3XjY14y pic.twitter.com/p5RA09JJO1— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) June 7, 2023
For example, more and more Republicans are non-college-educated white voters, once the bulk of the Democratic Party. “Another change impacting our politics is the shift in the Republican coalition. Over a decade-plus, the composition of the Republican Party has moved decisively to be comprised of non-college white voters. These voters and their concerns are what underlies the policy dynamics of the Republican Party,” he said in a memo shared with Secrets.
Democrats have changed, too, becoming uber-liberal. “A comfortable majority of Democrats now describe themselves as ‘liberal.’ There has been a ten-point jump in the percentage of Democrats who say they are ‘very liberal,’” said the PowerPoint from the co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies.
The growing division has also led most to give up on the government’s ability to fix issues. “Red and Blue America do agree our national government can no longer solve the major issues facing the country,” he said.
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Maybe worst of all, he said the path of partisanship has reached a level in which neither side trusts the other and they believe the other side is out to destroy the country.
“Just how bad is our political polarization?” he asked. “Roughly eight out of 10 partisans believe the agenda of the other party poses a threat that if not stopped will destroy America as we know it,” he said.
Check out his data below.
