Abstract
The early 2000s has witnessed the rise of a new phenomenon in public opinion, polarized political trust. By polarized, I mean that those who identify with the party opposite the president express much less trust in government than those who identify with the president’s party. Indeed, outparty partisans express almost no political trust at all. This is important because it is this group of people who have traditionally been the bridge that allows for consensus building in the electorate. Consensus in the electorate, in turn, encourages cooperation across party lines in Congress. Without consensus but with deep distrust of the other party, office holders from the party opposite the president have no incentive to rise above their worst partisan instincts because partisans from their side will tend to blame the president’s party for resultant problems of governance.
About the author
Marc Hetherington is Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University.
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©2015 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Congressional Polarization and Political Trust
- Declining Trust in Congress: Effects of Polarization and Consequences for Democracy
- Poor Performance by Government: A Functional Explanation of Public Disaffection
- The Strategic Promotion of Distrust in Government in the Tea Party Age
- “Why Polarized Trust Matters”
- Young Voters, Declining Trust and the Limits of “Service Politics”
- In Government We Distrust: Citizen Skepticism and Democracy in the United States
- American Politics: “Broken” Since 1885
- Book reviews
- The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America
- Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation
- The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Congressional Polarization and Political Trust
- Declining Trust in Congress: Effects of Polarization and Consequences for Democracy
- Poor Performance by Government: A Functional Explanation of Public Disaffection
- The Strategic Promotion of Distrust in Government in the Tea Party Age
- “Why Polarized Trust Matters”
- Young Voters, Declining Trust and the Limits of “Service Politics”
- In Government We Distrust: Citizen Skepticism and Democracy in the United States
- American Politics: “Broken” Since 1885
- Book reviews
- The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America
- Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation
- The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion