He was asked if he thinks this is healthy for a democracy:
"Well, up to a point. I think that a certain degree of polarization is healthy in a democracy. It clarifies the choices people have in elections, and it helps voters to hold the parties accountable for their performance"
At the same time, other political analysts say, "The more polarized political parties are, the less most of us care about the political process"
Survey data shows that people often take polarized positions because they think they are expected to when they identify with a certain party. With the sincerity and beliefs of Democrats mocked and under constant vitriolic attack, who would want to be thought of that way?
If they have questions, they don't raise them. It's easier to parrot the party line.
Recall, it is politicians (and their consultants), not "the people" who define those issues. They rely on corporate -style market research and focus groups. They chose slogans and even language that often has a patriotic subtext. When government programs are likened to Socialism, it's not surprising when people who consider themselves conservatives reject them even when they don't really know what socialism is.
This is also true of what appears to be populist movements like The Tea Party whose agenda and talking points have been established by professional consultants, guided by political operatives and funded by conservative billionaires.
As one study put it. " In other words, since the parties are now more clearly divided--and on a broader set of issues--it is easier for people to split accordingly, without changing their own views."
That's the key point---"without changing their own views." The dirty little secret is the discovery in many studies that the most systematic polarization appears only in mass partisanship: those who are politically active or identify themselves with a party or ideology tend to have more extreme positions than the rest of the population. But, at the same time, their core political views have changed very little. For example, many on the right depend on and support Medicare.
What's also not always clear to folks on the left is that Fox News positions itself as an upholder of what are, at bottom, liberal American values. Hence their motto about Fairness and Balance. (They actually have more opposing views on their programs than channels like MSNBC.)
The LA Times understood this when writing, "Fox's real ethos is not Republican but anti-elitist -- a major reason it connects with so many Americans and annoys so many coastal elites. "There's a whole country that elitists will never acknowledge," Ailes once observed. "What people resent deeply out there are those in the 'blue states' thinking they're smarter."
This anti-elitism shows itself in Fox's pro-U.S. stance in covering the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and its broadcasters' use of terms such as "terrorist" instead of "militants." Another aspect of Fox's anti-elitism: Christians, far from being seen as lunatics or curiosities -- as too often is the case in the mainstream media -- actually get some respect."
So Fox plays a double game, concealing the most reactionary and partisan of perspectives in the appearance of populism. It is then packaged in the format of news programming and above the fray television driven by hot graphics, pretty blondes, and relentless posturing.
The formula works in attracting audiences while the same time, feeding into a political strategy of promoting partisanship through heightening polarization and political conflict.
No issue is too small to exploit is it can have an emotional impact. A week after the targeted killing of Osama bin Laden, Fox had found a new enemy to bash as a target in the nightly culture war behind its political war.
Michelle Obama had invited a rapper named Common to a White House poetry reading. Some of his lyrics, in the parlance of ghetto talk, appeared to suggest he approved of a cop killing. That's all that Fox needed to hear. Program after program went on the attack at this latest example of black racism.
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