Educating the Public on Evidence-based methods for improving inter-group civility.

Posts Tagged partisanship

Millennials: Not Immune to Extreme Partisanship

For those who once had hope that millennials were less susceptible to hyper-partisanship, the latest survey from the Harvard institute of Politics comes as another blow.  In October 2010 Obama's approval rating was 79% among Democrats, 18% among Republicans.  A year later it was 87% and 12% respectively. It now stands at 86% and 10%. 

Thus it's no surprise that on policy matters the survey reports a "significant hardening of views":

From immigration to government spending to views on morality, the divide between political parties, even among our youngest voters, is stark. For example, in the Spring of 2010 Democrats were three points more likely than Republicans to agree that recent immigration into the U.S. “has done more good than harm” — and today they are nine points more likely. In 2010, Republicans were 13 points more likely to disagree with that statement, today they are 27 points more likely to disagree.

For responses to the survey see this NYT piece and also this one in  National Journal

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“The Emotional Psychology of a Two-Party System”

Joesph Burgo's take on what ails us:


"Black-and-white thinking reflects the psychological process known as splitting. When we feel unable to tolerate the tension aroused by complexity, we "resolve" that complexity by splitting it into two simplified and opposing parts, usually aligning ourselves with one of them and rejecting the other. As a result, we may feel a sort of comfort in believing we know something with absolute certainty; at the same time, we've over-simplified a complex issue."

So is truth ambiguity? Probably. But don't worry, the secret appears to be safe. And since philosopher's are never going to rule, Mr. Burgo's take on partsanship seems bereft of any insight adequate to an intervention. Which is not necessarily a criticism. But I'll read it again before I split…

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