And my topic is…. – Kristy Roschke

When I first saw that we had to pick a topic for our blogs, I knew I was going to pick something political. I spend so much of my time following politics, whether it’s impeachment or new federal rules or regulations, I’m a bit of a government junkie and love to know what’s going on.

I’m passionate about politics for a number of reasons. For one, I think Americans should know what their government is up to and how it impacts them. That is the root of my passion. Additionally, I just find it fascinating. The ability to swing votes, run campaigns and more is really interesting and important.

That being said, I really did not know what part of politics I would focus on. There are many options and none of them really jumped out, but then I decided on one specific thing that seems to encompass it all: Polarization.

Nearly daily, and in outlets on both sides of the political spectrum, there are articles about the level of polarization in America. The New York Times wrote an article Friday titled “In 7 Days and 3 Protests, the Nation’s Divisions on Glaring Display” and that inspired me to pick this topic.

Additionally, with impeachment ongoing, the media is constantly talking about the polarization in Congress. This study by Harvard professor Sounman Hong says that political polarization on Twitter may contribute to online extremism, which shows how this polarization can impact our everyday lives.

Greater political polarization driven in part by social changes emerged as a theme over 30 years of Wall Steet Journal/NBC News polling https://t.co/wtNXtzuPxf pic.twitter.com/EvKGp7I0Z2

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 27, 2019

Vox also published a study on Friday about polarization in nine other countries compared to the U.S. The analysis found that “Party polarization is not uniformly increasing in Western democracies. In a number of countries, it’s actually decreasing.” This info was surprising to me, especially because of its growth in the U.S.

This fact makes me want to figure out why, at least in the media’s eyes, polarization is happening more in the U.S. than in other countries.

(1/3) NEW REPORT: Deep partisan divisions exist in the news sources Americans trust, distrust and rely on https://t.co/EvSSacUtJc

— Jeff Gottfried (@gottfriedjeff) January 24, 2020

The above tweet also shows how the U.S. media is politically polarized as well, which I think will make this an especially interesting topic for this class because we will be analyzing the media and how it treats the topic.

When reading about polarization, or politics in general, I have a few go-to news sources. I am always checking The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. All have acknowledged and consistently write about polarization.

Additionally, I read the Arizona Republic, the Capitol Times and the Mirror in Arizona to keep up with state politics and polarization/divides happening here. (Links from last two graphs all go to polarization stories in the respective publications.)

I believe these publications all doa good job covering polarization. I think at times polarizations is overcovered by the media, but for the purposes of this blog that may be a good thing.

I’m interested in exploring publications I don’t typically read to see where they stand on polarization, and I think that will contribute to my understanding of American politics.

This topic is one I am very excited to follow throughout the semester, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. Looking forward to learning more about it every day and exploring polarization in the U.S.

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**Photo info**

“Welcome to the 2016 New Hampshire Primary” by DonkeyHotey on Flickr is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.