How the culture wars are driving political polarization

While there has been increasing comment and concern over the apparent polarization of the American electorate, recent research on culture and politics largely denies the existence of such polarization. In new research which focuses on Americans’ ideological identities, Duane F. Alwin and Paula A. Tufiş find that voters have indeed become polarized over time, and that their political identities are increasingly informed by cultural, rather than class or economic factors.