As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration With the Two-Party System
American Trends Panel recruitment surveys
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- As Partisan Hostility Grows, Signs of Frustration With the Two-Party System
- Growing shares of both Republicans and Democrats say members of the other party are more immoral, dishonest, closed-minded than other Americans
- Support for more political parties is highest among independents, higher among Democrats than Republicans
- Share of Americans holding unfavorable views of both parties among the highest in decades
- Rise in share of Democratic leaners who cite frustration with party leadership as reason they don’t identify with the party
- Two decades of rising partisan antipathy
- Views of Republican, Democratic parties largely stable as public continues to rate both parties unfavorably
- Republican and Democratic leaners are nearly as negative about the opposing party as partisans, but far less positive about ‘their’ party
- Highly negative views of the opposing party are far more widespread than in the past
- Partisan antipathy has significantly increased among partisan leaners in recent years
- About a quarter of the public has unfavorable views of both parties
- Partisans with weaker ties to their party more likely to have unfavorable views of both parties
- Younger adults more likely to hold unfavorable views of both Democratic and Republican parties
- Partisan gaps on recent presidents far wider than for their predecessors
- Public criticism of the parties: Majorities say they are each too extreme, don’t govern honestly and ethically
- Republicans and Democrats negatively characterize other party, generally positive toward own
- About a quarter see neither party as governing in an honest and ethical way, 30% see both as too extreme
- A majority of ‘strong’ Republicans say they like political leaders who claim that Trump won in 2020
- Republican views of leaders who say Trump won in 2020 are essentially unchanged over the past year
- Republicans without college degrees have more positive views of leaders who say Trump won in 2020
- Democrats more likely than Republicans to say they like political leaders who think the opposing party has good ideas on some issues
- Differences by party, age in views of whether a person’s party says a lot or a little about their character
- Nearly four-in-ten Americans express a desire for more political parties
- Younger adults, college graduates are more likely to want more choices of political parties
- Republicans regardless of age express less support for more choices of political parties
- Wide age differences in perceptions of how much parties differ from each other
- Those with weaker partisan ties are less likely to see major differences between the two major parties
- Younger people more likely than older adults to say they usually feel like no candidate shares their views
- Partisan leaners increasingly feel no candidates represent their views well
- Partisans about equally likely to cite harm from opposing party’s policies, good resulting from their party’s policies as major reason for their partisan identification
- Negative assessments of other party’s policies are biggest reason for leaning toward a party among independents
- Since 2016, a growing share of Democratic leaners cite frustration with the party’s leadership as a major reason why they do not identify as Democrats
- Republicans and Democrats without college degrees say their party sticking up for people like them is a ‘major reason’ for affiliating
- Looking ahead, most Democrats and Republicans say it is ‘very unlikely’ they will vote for the other party’s candidates
- Majorities in both parties view members of the other party as more immoral, dishonest and closed-minded than other Americans
- Shares of partisans describing members of the other party in negative terms has risen since 2016
- Republican and Democratic leaners view the opposing party more negatively than other Americans, but to a lesser extent than partisans
- Partisan leaners increasingly describe members of the other party in negative terms
- How partisans view members of their own party
- Partisans increasingly view members of their own party as more moral, open-minded and honest than others; shift is more modest among leaners
- In both parties, and among leaners, the shares describing opposing partisans with multiple negative traits has increased over the last several years
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