Just in time for the US elections, there are new insights into the research data from SOSEC. In a new article, the data journalists at the Tagesspiegel Innovation Lab have incorporated our latest survey data into their analysis. It turns out that the prominent topic of polarization proves to be far more complex than generally assumed. While the election campaign in the run-up to the US elections appeared to be highly polarized and very confrontational, the data shows that respondents in the US tend to perceive their society as less polarized than a few months ago.
Respondents also perceive the Democratic and Republican parties as being less far apart in terms of content and ideology. What is remarkable here is that Democratic voters in particular increasingly place themselves and their party in the middle of the political spectrum. This section of respondents also places the Republican Party increasingly further towards the center of the spectrum. The situation is different for Republican respondents. Here, their personal positioning and that of the Republican Party remains stable to the right of the political center (with only a slight drift towards the center). The assessment of the Democratic Party by Republican respondents, however, shifts towards the center over time.
Despite these trends, polarization remains high in some areas. There are major differences between the voters of the two parties in the available data, particularly on the issues of climate protection and immigration.