(CNN) A new Pew poll on polarization in our politics has some very bad news for people who believe in a sensible center in politics: It doesn't exist.

What Pew documents in this massive and important study is that Republicans and Democrats have never been further away from each other in terms of their ideological approach to the world. And there's very little evidence in the data that suggests the separation between the two parties will grow narrower any time soon.

As recently as 1994, more than one-third of Republicans were identified as more liberal than the average Democrat. That number is 5% today. Ditto Democrats, where 30% were more conservative than the average Republican in 1994 while just 3% are today.

You can see the parting of ways when you dig into the 10 value questions on which Pew bases these broader numbers. Consider:

* 65% of Republicans agree with the idea that "poor people have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return." Just 18% of Democrats say the same.

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