How American voters fell out of love with their own parties
Today we hate the other side more than we root for our own team. Why the end of rah-rah politics is bad for democracy
By Leon Neyfakh Globe Staff November 09, 2014
In the election season that ended last Tuesday, it may not always have been clear what candidates stood for, but it sure was easy to tell what they were against. Conservatives hammered away at the fact that their opponents were Democrats, just like the unpopular president. In Massachusetts, whole attack ads were conjured out of ominous repetitions of “Republican” next to Charlie Baker’s picture.
As politics in America continue to grow more negative and more polarized, the words “Democrat” and “Republican” have practically become slurs. This clearly reflects the feelings of voters: Record numbers of them—49 percent of the red team and 33 percent of the blue—said in one survey that they would be unhappy if their son or daughter married someone from the other side. Back in 1960, those numbers were 5 and 4 percent, respectively, which tells you just about everything you need to know about how much more deeply divided we are today.
Michael Sloan for the Boston Globe
