1. Political Polarization and the Media
CIVIX - April 21, 2017
Political Polarization
and the Media

2. Five Points Political disagreements are about feelings, not facts.
Political arguments are rationalizations, not reasons.
A fragmented information environment of episodic tidbits, like the one we have, reinforces #1 and #2.
Our society is more divided politically than it’s been in decades, and possibly longer.
The solution is probably not about finding just the right way to disabuse “idiots” of “stupid” ideas.
…but let’s talk strategy just in case it is.

9. Media Effects “Minimal Effects”? “Agenda Setting” “Framing”
Sophistication, Exposure, Influence
“Infotainment,” Twitter, Facebook, etc.

10. Closely Divided is not
Deeply Divided.
Is this true?
Elites are divided, but
the people are not.

11. Party Thermometer Evaluations, Democrats, 1964-2012
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Data: American National Election Study,

12. Party Thermometer Evaluations, Republicans, 1964-2012
Republican Party
Democratic Party
Data: American National Election Study,

13. Conclusions/Implications
The 2016 US presidential election did not come out of the blue.
American politics, like the politics of many other countries, including Canada, has been getting more divided, and more embittered, for a very long time.
The best defence against manipulation is still probably sophistication, but there is no defence, in a free society, against disagreement.