We Hate to Break It to You, but Maybe We’re Not That Polarized

So why does the country feel more divided now than it has in decades? The gap is not in what Americans actually share; it is in what they perceive they share. Political scientists call this the “perception gap.” More in Common, a nonpartisan research organization that studies social division, has measured the gap: Americans estimate that roughly twice as many of their political opponents hold extreme views as actually do.