Politics is polarizing. There is no doubt about it. The two party system found here in the United States is built on differences. Differences in candidates. Differences in beliefs. Differences in platforms. Throughout the entire political field, from top to bottom, at the most basic local levels all the way to the presidency, there is polarization. It will never be avoidable. Polarization can be good. It fosters debate and conversation and allows us to tackle important issues. But polarization has become extreme. Pew research has found that polarization is higher than it has been at any point in the last 50 years. As of 2022, Pew found that there were about 25 moderates left in Congress…down from 160 in 1971. As of 2014, 92% of Republicans were to the right of the median Democrat and 94% of Democrats were to the right of the median Republican. This is up from 70% and 68% respectively in 2004. At every level, from the voting citizens to the members of Capitol Hill, polarization is at an all time high.

A perfect example is the way that two losing presidential candidates announced their “defeat” in the last few elections. The 2008 election saw Republican John McCain fall to Democrat Barack Obama, as the Democrats took back the White House from George W. Bush. McCain’s concession speech has long been heralded as the epitome for what politics should be. It was well-mannered and respectful, capping a hard fought race, with McCain saying, “The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama— to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.”  McCain even encouraged Republicans to work with Obama in a bipartisan manner. In contrast, we have republican Donald Trump’s “concession” after losing to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Trump said, “We took them by surprise and this year they rigged an election. They rigged it like they've never rigged an election before.” Not only did Trump claim to have won, a claim he still argues today, he also encouraged his supporters to storm the United States Capitol building. The contrast between these two concessions shows exactly how far polarization has gone in recent years.

This all begs the question of whether the vast majority of the players in our political system actually are avid party loyalists contributing to this polarization and lack of bipartisanship, or has a select minority caused these changes to affect the rest of us? I argue that no more than a few percent of the 335 million people in the United States actually perpetuate this political polarization. The beliefs and opinions of the American people are not well reflected by the stark political contrasts in Congress.

First of all, we can take a look at a number of avenues to determine how many people are regularly involved in politics. Experts in the field contest that the average American just doesn’t care. They have no motivation to be educated or involved because in their mind, their singular vote just doesn’t hold a ton of weight. In their book Democracy for Realists, Chris Achen and Larry Bartels state that “evidence demonstrates that the great majority of citizens pay little attention to politics.” It is evident that most Americans are relatively uneducated and unbothered by our political system. Bartels and Achen say that most people vote for a presidential candidate based on the “nature of the times.” In reality, democracy is far from the conventional ideals. As Bartels and Achen say, people are influenced by “political loyalties typically acquired in childhood.” These loyalties stick with us throughout our lives, generally unswayed. But then why is the political landscape so stark now? Because this tiny minority has captivated the way politicking is now done through modern media and campaigns motivated by money. Ultimately this partisanship has translated all the way to the premier candidates, as they see shouting at their opponents and refusing to get along as the way to captivate their constituents. 

The numbers show that in the 2020 election cycle, just 1.83 million individual donors donated to Donald Trump's campaign and just 4.12 million individual donors donated to Joe Biden’s campaign. This totals just under 6 million, or just 1.8 percent of the U.S. population in 2020. This shows that an extremely small percent of America was actually involved or concerned enough with politics to spend their hard earned money on a massive presidential election. These numbers become even more drastic when looking at average viewer rates for the major political networks. Firstly, most of the regular audience for popular television news only watch for headlines and interesting views. A 2010 Pew poll found that 64 percent of CNN viewers and 44 percent of Fox News viewers simply watched for the headlines while just 10 percent and 11 percent respectively watched for in-depth reporting. Additionally, 33 percent of Rachel Maddow’s (a left leaning political commentator) viewers and 39 percent of Hannity’s (a right leaning political commentator) viewers watch simply for that commentator's specific view. For the most part, people do not watch for in-depth, unbiased reporting. Across the 22 networks or shows that Pew mentions, just 12.68 percent of viewers reported they watched for in-depth news. As of July just 1.57 million people watched Fox News’ primetime show, 1.12 million people watched MSNBC’s primetime show, and 534,000 watched CNN’s primetime show. Combined, this is under three million people. All of the statistics show a small percentage of the US population involved or concerned with politics. These voices spread far and wide, disseminating polarizing ideals meant to whip our country into a frenzy. With so many uneducated or uninvolved, they’re able to do just that.

It is incredibly clear that a tiny majority of the country has pushed partisanship to an all time high, nearly destroying any chance of John McCain’s 2008 wish for both parties to work together. But more problematic is the fact that the desires, demands, and agendas of these small majorities are pushed as what the nation wants, when in reality that is far from the case. While it may not seem like any one individual can make a difference, more involvement in politics at all levels nationwide will help to turn the tides of polarization.