Both parties were far more ideologically diverse even a decade ago. Protesters and counter-protesters argue during a demonstration in New Orleans, held in solidarity with Charlottesville protests that left one woman dead. | Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images Study: Americans more divided along party lines than ever

Americans have rarely been as divided along partisan lines as they are now, according to a new Pew Research Center study that shows the nation’s political cleavages on most issues have widened in the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The gap between Democrats and Republicans continues to expand on questions about the role of government, race, immigration — even where they prefer to live. Each party has become more ideologically homogeneous, and more hostile toward the opinions of members of the other party.


Pew began asking 10 questions on “political values” — on government regulations to benefits for the poor to racial discrimination — in 1994.

The average gap between self-identified Democrats and Republicans on these questions in 1994? Fifteen points. Today, it’s 36 points, up from 33 percent in 2014.

“Partisan divides across political values … [are] wider than at any point in the past,” said Jocelyn Kiley, the associate director for research at the Pew Research Center.

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Both parties were far more ideologically diverse even a decade ago. In 2004, 68 percent of Democrats were more consistently liberal than the median Republican, and 70 percent of Republicans were more consistently conservative than the media Democrat.

Today, virtually all Democrats, 97 percent, are more liberal than the median Republican, and 95 percent of Republicans are more conservative than the median Democrat.

The Pew questions on “political values” ask poll respondents to pick between one of two statements. For example, respondents were given a choice between these two sentences: “The government should do more to help needy Americans, even if it means going deeper into debt,” or “The government today can’t afford to do much more to help the needy.”

Overall, half of Americans say the government should do more to help the needy, while 43 percent say it can’t afford to do more much. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who want the government to do more has moved in a band between 41 percent (in 2011) and 63 percent (in 2007).

But it’s the increasing partisan split that’s most revealing. Democrats have always been more supportive of aid to the poor, but partisans have largely moved in concert. In 2007, 77 percent of Democrats and 45 percent Republicans thought government should do more for the needy. In 2011, amid rising deficits following the economic recession toward the end of the previous decade, just 54 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of Republicans thought government should do more.

In the latest survey, however, the percentage of Democrats who think government should do more has surged to 71 percent. But Republicans have held steady: Just 24 percent want government to do more for the needy.

The widening gap between Democrats and Republicans isn’t just a short-term trend: When Pew first asked the question in 1994, there was a 21-point difference between Democratic and Republican respondents, less than half the 47-point rift now.

Partisans are breaking apart on other measures, too, with Democrats often providing most of the movement. Perhaps most striking is a finding on racial discrimination. Forty-one percent of Americans say racial discrimination is the main reason blacks cannot get ahead in the country — the highest recorded figure in the study's history but still fewer than the 49 percent who say blacks who can’t get ahead are mostly responsible for their own situations.

The partisan gap has exploded on this question. In 1994, the partisan difference between Democrats and Republicans was 13 points: 39 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Republicans said racial discrimination is the main reason why many black people couldn’t get ahead. Even in 2011, the gap between Democrats and Republicans was 19 points.

But in the new poll, the gap is a yawning 50 percentage points: A 64 percent majority of Democrats say racial discrimination is the main reason blacks can’t get ahead, but only 14 percent of Republicans agree.

“Democrats have long been more likely to say that racial discrimination is the reason that blacks can’t get ahead,” said Kiley. “But the share of Democrats who say that has really increased over the last several years.”

Similarly, since 1994, the percentage of Democrats who say immigrants strengthen the country “because of their hard work and talents” rather than are a burden “because they take our jobs, housing and health care” has skyrocketed, from 32 percent to 84 percent.

Republicans have moved in the same direction, but at a far slower pace: In 1994, 30 percent said immigrants strengthen the country, compared to 42 percent now.

It’s not just political measures that underscore the deep partisan divides in the country. Overall, Americans are equally divided between wanting to live in a community with larger houses farther apart, where schools, shops and restaurants are not nearby (48 percent), and those who want to live in smaller houses closer together but within walking distance to schools and shops (47 percent).

The divide falls on political lines: 65 percent of Republicans want to live in larger houses farther apart, and 61 percent of Democrats want to live in more walkable communities with smaller homes.

And not only are Americans pulling apart into more ideologically homogeneous parties — they are more negative about the other party than they were decades earlier. Forty-four percent of Democrats say they have a very unfavorable opinion of the GOP, and 45 percent of Republicans view the Democratic Party very unfavorably. In 1994, fewer than 20 percent in each party viewed the other party very unfavorably.

The results of the Pew study are based on surveys conducted in June, July and August of this year.

