Why victory trumps the greater good in American politics

Recent years have seen a paradox develop in the public’s attitude towards politics – while they are against legislative gridlock; they are unwilling to compromise on getting what they want out of politics. In new research, Lilliana Mason investigates the trend towards ideological ‘sorting’, where people identify more with the political party that matches their ideological identity. She finds that while party identification may be becoming stronger, divisions on specific issues are still relatively small. She writes that that while people may agree on many issues, their ‘social polarization’ on partisanship means that they dislike and distrust one another, making political compromise difficult.