Alan Abramowitz, in his work, The Polarized Public, argues that the mass voting public has become much more polarized and ideological in recent elections. The goal of this assignment is to reflect upon Abramowitz’s argument by engaging in your own data analysis. You must use data from credible sources as we discussed in class. To start your research, you may access the following data set by Pew Research on the 2016 Presidential election: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/. After collecting and analyzing the data from the 2016 Presidential election, you are to write a 5-8 page paper incorporating the following questions: 1. Is Abramowitz correct in his analysis that the voting public is more polarized? Do we see polarization in the 2016 election? (Use data from PEW or other credible sources). 2. Abramowitz discusses a racial divide in the 2008/2012 electoral cycle. Did we witness a racial divide in 2016? Cite evidence. 3. Is political polarization a problem in our democracy? What are the causes and solutions to political polarization?
In a country with over 318 million, people there are varying ideologies and attitudes. Proponents like Adam Abramowitz author suggests that these ideologies and attitudes reveal a deeply divided polarized electorate among the electorate. The mass voting public is comprised of people with different ideological beliefs, race, ethnicity, religion among other things and therefore there should not be expectation of same