Why We’re Polarized

1. Are you so locked into your political identity that there is virtually no candidate, no information, no condition that could change your mind? Have you noticed yourself justifying almost anything as long as it helps your side?

2. Do you agree with Klein’s assertion that the American political system (which includes everyone from voters to journalists to the president) is full of rational actors making rational decisions given the incentives they face?

3. Klein explains how people are driven not by positive feelings toward the party they support but negative feelings towards the party they oppose. Have you noticed this drive within others and within yourself?

4. Were you surprised with positions held by Democrats that were once much more conservative by today’s standards and positions once held by Republicans that were once much more liberal?

   • Richard Nixon creating the Environmental Protection Agency and proposing a national healthcare plan more ambitious than Obamacare, Reagan signing an immigration reform bill and saying that he believes in amnesty for those who have put down roots even though sometime back they may have entered illegally, Gingrich and McCain wanting a cap-and-trade program in order to reduce carbon emissions (before turning against the idea a few years later), Clinton flying back to Arkansas to preside over the execution of a brain-damaged inmate, working with Republicans to slash welfare, and proudly declaring that “the era of big government is over,” Biden voting for a constitutional amendment that would let states overturn Roe v. Wade, Bernie Sanders (in 2015) saying that open borders is “a right-wing proposal, which says essentially that there is no United States. It would make everybody in America poorer.” In the 2020 primary, however, Sanders endorsed decriminalizing unauthorized border entry and providing public health insurance to unauthorized immigrants.

5. Klein states that politics is driven by the most committed activists with the most intense opinions. Do you agree with this, and do you see this as a dangerous reality?

6. What do you think of the idea that polarization (driven by allegiance to political parties) can actually be moderating as people who aren’t attached to one party or the other are free to hold much more unpopular opinions?

7. Klein explains that in less than twenty-five years (1992 to 2016) the percentage of voters who lived in a district where almost everyone thought like them politically went from 1 in 20 to 1 in 5. Klein states that there is no dense city in American that routinely votes Republican, and there are few rural areas that vote Democratic. What do you think of this change where we increasingly live around those who think the way we do (which even correlates with the locations of Whole Foods and Cracker Barrel)?

8. Do you see yourself as being more open to experience or more drawn to order and tradition?

9. Klein explains that psychology doesn’t predict political opinions among people who don’t pay much attention to politics, but it’s a powerful predictor of political opinions among those who do. What considerations have you made when it comes to choosing to engage more or less with politics?

10. Do you recognize the ways in which you participate in politics to express who you are (rather than participating to solve a problem)?

11. What did you think of the research that shows both liberal and conservative participants are more influenced by the endorsement of their party rather than policy content? (If their party endorsed it, liberals supported a harsh welfare program and conservatives supported a lavish one.)

12. What did you think of Klein’s assertion that humans reason for purposes other than finding truth – purposes like increasing their standing in their community or ensuring they don’t find themselves exiled by leaders of their tribe. He explains that a smarter, better-educated citizenry doesn’t put an end to disagreements. It just means that participants are better equipped to argue for their own side. Klein goes on to explain research that shows that the smarter a person is, the dumber politics can make them. Being better at math made partisans less likely to solve a problem correctly when solving the problem correctly meant betraying their political instincts. People weren’t reasoning to get the right answer; they were reasoning to get the answer that they wanted to be right. In another experiment, it turned out that on highly politized issues, people’s actual definition of “expert” is “a credentialed person who agrees with me.”

13. What do you think of the idea that it is often “individually rational” to put group dynamics first when thinking about certain issues – your personal beliefs often not affecting much politically but potentially suffering extremely unpleasant consequences (from shunning to loss of employment) if out of synch with peers. Essentially, we prioritize the protection of the idea of who we are and our relationships with people we trust and love. Do you notice that you avoid picking political fights with people you care about?

14. Klein sometimes makes a passing joke about his own potential biases. While he doesn’t do a deep dive into his own psychology, he poses the question: “How can I know that this book isn’t a form of identity protection?” While some might argue that this book isn’t about Klein’s personal psychology, is it still possible that something is missing by him not dedicating a few pages to his own identity protection? Is there a lost opportunity when authors attempt to appear objective and don’t include themselves in those who might be susceptible to the psychological phenomena they discuss? (To be fair, Klein does acknowledge that he falls victim to motivated reasoning. He just doesn’t really explore how this might pose a weakness in some of his perspectives.)

15. What do you think about the changing demographics of this country? What do you think of the fact that in 2018, Americans claiming “no religion” edged out Catholics and evangelicals to be the most popular response to the General Social Survey’s question on religion?

    • “For two hundred years, whites in America represented an undisputed politically, economically, and culturally dominant majority. When a political tribe is so overwhelmingly dominant, it can persecute with impunity, but it can also be more generous. It can afford to be more universalist, more enlightened, more inclusive, like the WASP elites of the 1960s who opened up the Ivy League to more Jews, blacks, and other minorities—in part because it seemed like the right thing to do. Today, no group in America feels comfortably dominant. Every group feels attacked, pitted against other groups not just for jobs and spoils but for the right to define the nation’s identity. In these conditions, democracy devolves into zero-sum group competition—pure political tribalism.” (Yale law professor Amy Chua)

16. What did you think of the controversial 2019 Gillette ad showing boys roughhousing, men touching women inappropriately in corporate boardrooms, and an infinite chorus of barbecuing dads excusing the behavior with “boys will be boys”? The commercial asked, “Is this the best a man can get?” Klein explains that for Gillette, it was a business decision as brands want to be where the culture is going. (I briefly boycotted Gillete, but then I wanted good razors again…so the boycott was short lasting.)

17. Klein references a 2006 paper which found that priming white college students to think about the concept of white privilege led them to express more racial resentment in subsequent surveys. Klein explains that the simplest way to activate someone’s identity is to threaten it, to tell them they don’t deserve what they have, to make them consider that it might be taken away. The experience of losing status—and being told your loss of status is part of society’s march to justice—is itself radicalizing. What might this finding tell us about our current political climate and polarization?

18. What did you think of the many examples provided of how political parties and politicians adapt to what’s popular/what will win an election (rather than seeming consistently principled)? (See pg. 128 – Democratic party platform included a section on immigration that sounds as if it could have been released by the Trump administration today)

19. What do you think of the finding that “white liberals are now less likely than African Americans to say that black people should be able to get ahead without any special help” (Vox’s Matt Yglesias)? Yglesias explains “…white liberals have moved so far to the left on questions of race and racism that they are now, on these issues, to the left of even the typical black voter.”

20. What do you think of the idea that our polarized media weaponized differences rather than emphasizing commonalities? It doesn’t focus on the best of the other side, it threatens you with the worst. Klein explains that the more political media you consume, the more warped your perspective of the other side becomes. What can be done about the issue of the most loud, extreme, and controversial getting the most noticed?

    • What did you think of the misperceptions people have about the other party? (such as -- Democrats believed 44 percent of Republicans earned over $250,000 a year; it’s actually two percent. Republicans believed that 38 percent of Democrats were gay, lesbian, or bisexual; the correct answer is about 6 percent.)

21. What did you think of Klein’s explanation of the decline of persuadable voters? The number of true independents (actually undecided and could vote for either party) has plummeted in recent elections going from about 22 percent of the electorate to 7 percent.

22. Klein argues for people to be more focused on their local politics with tangible stakes rather than the more abstract collisions of the national scene. Are you involved in local politics or interested in becoming more involved?

23. Are you more drawn to candidates who appear moderate or are you more drawn to candidates who express loud disgust with the opposing side? Do you want your political party to become more moderate or more liberal/conservative?

24. Are you more likely to feel insulted when America is being criticized or when your state or city is being criticized? (Klein explained that the Founders assumed that we would identify more deeply with our home state than with our country.)

25. Klein ends the book with an optimistic tone. He states that “the institutions of American politics today are a vast improvement on the regimes that ruled well within living memory. If we can do a bit better tomorrow, we will be doing much, much better than we have ever done before.” Do you share any of Klein’s optimism? How concerned (or fearful) are you about the future of this country? What are you doing or what are you willing to do to make your country (or community) a better place?