Perhaps it is worth questioning if the left-right political spectrum paradigm as we’ve known it for 70+ years still applies? Polarization implies movement to the extremes on that spectrum, which the author rightly points out has weaknesses as an explanation.
"Polarization fails as an adequate explanation of the American political landscape today, because the two parties now disagree over the basic facts and nature of democracy itself." Good piece by @juliaazari.bsky.social on one of the most overused, and frankly laziest, terms in political discourse.
The term is commonly used but fails to describe the hostility between many Republicans and Democrats ahead of the presidential election. Instead, American politics faces a deeper crisis, writes Julia ...
That's a common misconception, but no, polarization says nothing about extremes (at least in poli sci). It means coalesced around poles rather than scattered about, but it doesn't say anything about those poles in relation to the center or each other. More partisan, not necessarily more extreme.