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13 October 2005

Abramowitz on Culture Wars

The next session of PPBW features a paper by Alan Abramowitz titled "Is Polarization a Myth?" The paper takes on Fiorina et al. and to some degree the Ansolabehere et al. paper we discussed here. It's clearly going to be a while before we settle this debate. Here's the abstract:

This paper uses data from the American National Election Studies and national exit polls to test Fiorina’s assertion that polarization in America is largely a myth concocted by social scientists and media commentators. Fiorina argues that “we [ordinary Americans] instinctively seek the center while the parties and candidates hang out on the extremes� but the evidence indicates that the high level of polarization among political elites reflects real divisions within the electorate. Moreover, contrary to Fiorina’s suggestion that polarization turns off voters and depresses turnout, the evidence indicates that polarization energizes the electorate and stimulates political participation.

Posted by Barry Burden at October 13, 2005 10:12 AM