Political Science

Description

Debate  on a wide variety of issues in the United States has become  increasingly partisan. This is due in part to the fact that the party  platforms have coalesced around positions on sets of issues and have  sorted voters based on their relative preferences on these issues.    Assignment: Pick two of the following issues and do a little research  about how the parties’ average position on that issue has changed over  the past twenty years (i.e. the era where partisan polarization has been  said to be happening).

The issues are:

● Expanding federal environmental regulation

● Raising tax rates on top earners

● Legalizing gay marriage

● Supporting universal healthcare

● Joining international free trade agreements

● Authorizing domestic surveillance

Recall there are two types of polarization we have talked about:

• Mass polarization- how much the general public is or is not polarizing

• Elite polarization- how much more influential people are or are not  polarization (including members of Congress, wealthy Americans, certain  political activists, etc)

Choose  one of these two types (mass or elite) to focus on, and apply it to  both of the issues you chose. If you choose mass, you can use public  opinion polls to get an idea of how people are polarizing on an issue.  If you choose elite, focus on Congress as a special case (in part  because it’s easier to measure, and in part because polarization in  Congress have profound consequences). Polarization in Congress can be  measured by looking at voting on bills. For example, if in 1973 the  House of Representatives votes on a bill, and 130/265 Democrats and  85/170 Republicans vote for a bill, we can say it’s not all that  polarized because about 49% of the Democrats and 50% of the Republicans  voted for it, meaning they don’t differ very much in their view of the  bill. On the other hand, if 90% of Democrats and 15% of Republicans vote  yes in 2015, it certainly looks like things have been polarized. This  logic using percentages also holds for public opinion data if you choose  to talk about mass instead of elite. Keep in mind that you need to  compare the past to the present. If you choose elite, then compare a law  voted on by Congress before the 1990s to a more recent one (you do this  once each for each of the two issues you chose. If you choose mass,  then compare public opinion data by party between now and some time  further in the past.   You can find a ton of valuable polling and survey info through Gallup  and Pew’s sites (if you choose mass). If you choose elite, then votes on  laws in Congress can be found on their official website. If you’re  unsure of a source, ask me first.