Why Polarization Won’t Go Away

Most people agree that politics has become too hostile, toxic, and polarized. So why does it remain that way?

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo often laments, during his daily briefings, the politicization of the pandemic. He has on more than one occasion claimed that “this is no time for politics.” Sharing this sentiment is former President George W. Bush, who recently released a video urging Americans to remember that “we are not partisan combatants” but rather “human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God.”

In calling for Americans to set aside their partisan differences amidst the ravages of the coronavirus, Bush and Cuomo join commentators from across the political spectrum who express a conviction that was popular with a majority of Americans long before COVID-19 emerged: politics has become too hostile, toxic, and polarized.

Yet responses to the pandemic reveal familiar partisan divides. The president, along with many of his supporters, seem to think that the coronavirus pandemic is a plot to undermine his reelection. Meanwhile, there are significant differences among conservative and liberal citizens in how they have altered their behavior in light of the COVID-19 threat. They even hold different factual beliefs about the virus, with…