American politics has become increasingly polarized over the last decade. From the presidential debate stage to social media to news outlets, the two ends of the American political spectrum seem never to get along. With the most recent 43-day long government shutdown, it appears this is more true than ever.
However, the loud, polarizing extremists on either side of the American political spectrum don’t necessarily represent the majority of American voters.
Moderate candidates who want to incorporate mixed beliefs shouldn’t be accused of giving in to the other side. They should be awarded for being willing to work together as politicians to represent Americans, not just the radical liberals or reactionary conservatives. The ideal of a representative republic is to represent all constituents, not just your own extremist ideologies.
Nowadays, it seems everyone has to be a progressive or a conservative. When it comes down to it, especially on the national stage, the moderates seem to pull through. This is due in part to the majority of voters wanting someone willing to work across the aisle.
According to a 2024 Gallup poll, 37% of Americans consider themselves conservative or very conservative, 34% consider themselves moderate and 25% liberal or very liberal. Once broken down, only 10% consider themselves very conservative and 9% consider themselves very liberal. These lower minorities are the ones you hear from the most, however.
Although political content online has not been found to change people’s beliefs, it does introduce more radicalized content. The longer a person remains within their own political bubble on social media, the more an algorithm continues to feed into their ideology. This creates the polarization of political parties online.
Chris Bail, founder of the Polarization Lab at Duke University, says a large majority of political content is created by a small minority of political content creators. The minority consists of people who are disproportionately at the far ends of the political spectrum. This creates an image of everyone being on the far ends, skewing the reality of the political spectrum.
These online outlets, however, don’t reflect the politicians often elected into office. When it comes to the U.S. Senate and House seats, the majority of officials, historically, often cross the aisle to compromise. These compromises are supposed to reflect the mixed beliefs and ideologies of the majority of Americans. This creates the representative republic the U.S. government was built on.
Athens County is often considered a liberal outlier in Ohio elections, but when taking a deeper look, the elections are closer than they appear. In the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris received 54% of the votes and Donald Trump received 43% in Athens County; in the state of Ohio, Trump received 55% of the votes and Harris received 43%. The national popular vote came out to be 49.8% Trump and 48.3% Harris. This goes to show even the most recent election is not as disproportionately skewed as some online think.
Political extremism is dangerous for the majority of Americans. People start to disengage from politics when they feel unrepresented. Neither extreme side is representative of Americans. Electing politicians who represent the middle-ground is how compromising policies are enacted, which mirror true American beliefs.
However, we have entered into an age where politicians want to be extremely liberal or conservative, thinking it is better for primary elections. This becomes an ever dangerous game going into the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election. Moderates are not people willing to sit around doing nothing; they are people trying to incorporate the mixed political beliefs of Americans.
Extremist policies sound ideal in a primary run against other Democrats or Republicans, but listening to the moderate candidates willing to work for all Americans is important. As unfortunate as others may say it is, we live in a country with both liberals and conservatives.
Understanding candidates who are willing to work for both is a quality our government should encourage. This was the platform former President Joe Biden ran on in 2020. He stood for being a president to all Americans, regardless of whom they supported in the election.
Taking time away from extremist propaganda on social media helps people understand how politicians should work as a whole. Remaining in your own political bubble is how radicalization worsens on either end of the spectrum.
An extremist is someone who refuses to compromise in how we as a country are in such a polarized divide. To work toward political progress as Americans, we first need to work toward coming together in understanding.
Chase Borland is a junior studying journalism strategic communications at Ohio University. The views and opinions of this columnist do not necessarily reflect those of The Post. If you have any thoughts, questions or concerns then you can contact him at cb297222@ohio.edu.
