Does Partisan Media Encourage a More Politically Polarized America?
Author: Cassandra Jeffery
The left-right gap is widening at a rather rapid rate in America, but the root cause of this phenomenon has been difficult to pinpoint. A number of plausible theories are floating around in the research world, including the hypothesis that partisan media is the culprit behind the growing Republican-versus-Democrat divide.
The Pew Research Center recently conducted the largest political survey in its history — a poll of more than 10,000 adults between January and March, 2017. The findings illustrated an America where Republicans and Democrats are further apart ideologically than at any point in recent history.
“Growing numbers of Republicans and Democrats express highly negative views of the opposing party. And to a considerable degree, polarization is reflected in the personal lives and lifestyles of those on both the right and left,” read an excerpt from the study.
Sifting through the extensive amount of data, one will discover a plethora of interesting tidbits on the shifting political landscape. For example, the study discovered that Republicans are divided over issues of economic fairness, and the Democrats are split on whether hard work leads to success.
“Across 10 political values Pew Research Centre has tracked since 1994, there is now an average 36-percentage-point gap between Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and Democrats and Democrat leaners. In 1994, it was only 15 points,” said the study. “The partisan gap is much larger than the differences between the opinions of blacks and whites, men and women and other groups in society.”
In other words, more Americans are choosing sides, but the reason why is still a little hazy.
Also curious about the cause of this political polarization chasm, the Pew Research Center assessed several media habits related to the lifestyle trends of Democrats and Republicans. What they found was that liberals and conservatives are from two totally different worlds, and that individuals from respective ideology camps rely on specific media outlets for their daily news.
“There is little overlap in the news sources they [conservatives and liberals] turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals,” read an excerpt from the study.
Overall, the study found a few contrasting qualities between liberals and conservatives and their media habits.
For example, 47 percent of consistent Republicans cite Fox News as their main source for news about government and politics. Conservatives also expressed a greater distrust that trust of 24 of the 36 news sources measure in the survey. A total of 88 percent of consistent conservatives trust Fox News.
On the other side of the trench, liberals were found to be less unified in their media loyalty. Meaning, consistent liberals rely on a greater range of news outlets — the New York Times and NPR were two cited — than their conservative counterparts. Democrats also expressed more trust than distrust of 28 of the 36 news outlets in the survey, with NPR, PBS, and the BBC being the most trusted news sources.
It’s easy to see that Democrats and Republicans tend to rely on contradictory media outlets for their news; however, is the widening left-right political gap a byproduct of media polarization?
Markus Prior, from the Department of Politics at Princeton University, suggests that there is no firm evidence that partisan media are making ordinary Americans more polarized.
His research paper, Media and Political Polarization, examines the emergence of partisan media and whether or not such media contributed to political polarization. Prior’s research analyzed media viewing habits and partisan exposure to Americans in the political center, questioning the probability of partisan media swaying political ideology.
What he found was that although partisan media outlets validated the respective ideological views of liberals and conservatives, they did not necessarily contribute to political polarization.
“Nobody should be surprised that some strong partisans turned to more ideologically congruous media formats when they became available. But that audience migration alone does not constitute evidence that partisan media polarize Americans,” wrote Prior. “Most voters avoid partisan media altogether or mix and match across ideological lines. And those who follow partisan media closely and select mostly one side are already partisan.”
Prior’s research sheds light on a number of questions left unanswered when it comes to political polarization in American. However, the Pew Research Center discovered that President Trump’s job ratings are more polarized than previous Commander in Chiefs. In fact, 88 percent of Republicans approved of Trump’s job performance, compared with eight percent of democrats. Although Prior found that partisan media does not directly influence political polarization in America, it’s difficult to ignore the correlation of factors surrounding Trump polarization, political media habits, and the widening left-right gap.
For now, it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact source of extreme political polarization in America, but as the gorge continues to segregate Americans, it will be difficult to ignore the issues surrounding ideological disparity — religion, race, economics — that are rapidly solidifying roots in the fabric of society.
Although tackling social issues in America is a beast of a problem on its own, the DNN platform is helping to address media partisan by creating a news curation and publication software that disrupts the current media landscape. It’s news for the people, by the people.
Articles are published based on a peer-reviewed system that alleviates the distribution of politically polarized content. Meaning, an article will be published based on a collective consensus of fact, rather than a politically driven agenda because regardless if you’re left or right leaning, it’s important to trust the facts, rather than a media outlet.
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