Political and Party Polarization in United States (1936-2016)

Abstract

This research is aimed at understanding the supposed US party polarization. Through a methodology that privileges the use of national platforms as an indicative of ideological portrait and gradation indicators, this study aims to empirically show in a historical perspective the approximations and distances between the two most important political parties in USA and, consequently, the rise or decline of ideologies as conservatism and liberalism. The time framed goes from 1936 (first election post New Deal) to 2016. The results indicate that there is a party polarization in recent period, not singular in the history of the country, but unique in the sense that both parties head to extremes of the political spectrum characterized, mainly, by a conservative ascendancy by the Republican Party with regards to social issues. Far from a centrist discourse or not committed supposedly intending to collect a higher number of electors, the US parties define themselves by opposed positionings. One still needs to know if this is a process that benefits democracy when representing society with all its idiosyncrasies or it is one process that harms democracy by contemplating extremes not always characteristics of the society as a whole.

polarization; United States; platforms; Republican Party; Democratic Party