Has Civility Declined?

We organize the discussion into several questions.

1) Do Americans PERCEIVE that civility is declining?
Yes, there is a lot of evidence showing that most Americans perceive incivility to be a very serious and growing problem
--A 2010 report on Civility in America, by the P.R. firm Weber Shandwick, shows  that Americans find politics, and the roadways, to be the most uncivil domains of life. The 2011 update goes into much more detail, including many interesting facts, such as that Republicans are more likely than Democrats and Independents to believe that incivility is inherent in the political process
--Pew and Gallup surveys....

2) Is there objective evidene of a decline in civil behavior in recent decades?

[we're looking for evidence. If you know of any, please email haidt at virginia.edu]

3) Has political POLARIZATION increased in recent decades?
Yes. There is one (and only one) measure by which polarization has NOT increased: If you look at the attitudes of Americans on a range of specific issues (such as gay marriage, abortion, taxes, foreign policy...), you don't find that the distribution is widening. The voters are not moving to the extremes on the issues. See work by Fiorina, and a recent study by John Chambers [links to come]. This is important to note, and it is a hopeful sign.

But by most measures, things are getting more polarized.

Even if the voters views on issues have not spread out much, their ratings of their own political positions have gotten more extreme, according to both Gallup (which shows a decline in centrists and a rise in the percentage of self-identified liberals and conservatives) and also according to ANES, as reported in these helpful graphs from Larry Sabato.

And when we look at the attitudes and behavior of the parties and the political elites, the portrait of increasing polarization and demonization is quite compelling: 

• The number of "split results" in house districts has declined. This refers to districts that vote for a president from one party and a congressional representative from another. As Sabato's Crystal Ball puts it:  "In 1984, there were 196 split districts: the result of President Ronald Reagan’s romp combined with the reelection of a Democratic House. That number has declined since then to 83 split districts in the 2008 presidential race. As the conservative Democrat and (especially) the liberal Republican becomes extinct, one can imagine the number of split districts declining further." [Haidt, jan 20] 
• Testimonials from departing congressmen and senators are uniformly despairing. [links to come].