Americans Have a Love/Hate Relationship With Their Political Parties
Most of us think of parties and partisanship as the same thing, but that’s all wrong
Political parties have arrived at an odd and precarious place in American politics. As Republicans and Democrats lob insults at one another over everything from border security to the well-being of immigrant children, it’s becoming evident that we have developed a love/hate relationship with the major players in our legislative establishment—that is, we love our own party and hate the rival parties.
Research has shown that Americans increasingly hold their party affiliation to be as core to their identity as gender and race. At the same time, surveys find that we hold negative feelings — often bordering on mistrust — toward those who hold opposing political beliefs. Psychologists and political scientists believe that this phenomenon, known clinically as negative partisanship, contributes to our overall sense of antipathy toward political parties — at least, toward the political process as a whole. This animosity is only compounded by the growing sense that parties are elitist entities more concerned with servicing those in power than with representative democracy.
