Welcome to the Age of ‘Negative Partisanship’

“We are living in an era of what political scientists describe as ‘strong partisanship and weak parties’ — or, alternatively, as ‘negative partisanship.’ The electorate is polarized into opposing camps, but their emotional impetus is driven by hostility to the other party rather than trust in their own. … The Republican Party’s solution to this predicament has been to fashion itself as a cult of personality devoted to Donald Trump. The Democratic Party’s solution has been a series of technocratic fixes intended to increase its own legitimacy. But the Iowa caucus is the latest indication that the effort is collapsing.”

Jonathan Chait