Fiorina address U.S. political polarization

Author: Polly Johnson

While many students rushed off campus last Friday to begin Fall Break, some dedicated MiddKids stuck around to hear Morris Fiorina, one of the nation's best-known scholars of American politics, speak on the myth of a polarized America in a lecture titled, "Polarized Elites, Moderate Voters: The Great Disconnect in American Politics."

Fiorina, the author of "Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America," is the Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. Fiorina's arguments are rooted in his belief, supported by his abundance of research, that the general public is not as bitterly divided on social, political and economic issues as the media and political activists would have us believe. In fact, as backed up by numerous graphs and charts, most Americans lie in the center of the political landscape and are for the most part fairly moderate in their views.

Associate Professor of Political Science Matt Dickinson, who was both a student and a colleague of Fiorina's at Harvard University, introduced "Mo," as he affectionately called his old friend. Fiorina dove right into his material, beginning with a direct message to the crowd: "People in politics feel free to choose their own facts." With this as a starting point, Fiorina, stressed the importance of being constantly critical and refusing to make presumptions.

Fiorina asserted his claim that in American politics, the political elites, political activists and media are the groups that have most widely contributed to the notion of a polarized nation and the perception that citizens in red and blue states are vastly divided on political and social issues. With the aid of a graph, Fiorina pointed out that since the 1960s, Congress has moved in opposing directions, with the Democrats moving further to the left while the Republicans have moved further to the right, creating two parties with very little overlap.

This development in Congress is not reflective, however, and the country is not in fact as polarized as the public is often led to believe. So, why there is such a deep-seeded belief that the nation as a whole is so highly divided? One answer Fiorina provides is the notion of an unrepresentative political class. "Such a small fraction of American people defines politics for the rest of the U.S.," he said. The media acts as a catalyst to this problem, since, in Fiorina's view, members of the media for the most part speak only to other political experts and elites. Thus, the media presents an unrepresentative view of the public's beliefs.

Student response to Fiorina's argument was positive. Kerry Ortega '07 noted that, Fiorina "was very convincing as he defended his argument that America is not the polarized nation that the media portrays. It was exciting to have such an esteemed political scientist at Middlebury just weeks after reading his book."

Senior Liz Kofman, who had not read "Culture Wars" prior to the lecture, still found great meaning in what he had to say.

"I really appreciated Professor Fiorina's unpretentious, no-nonsense approach," Kofman said, adding, "His lecture was a great wake-up call: we as Americans need to stop getting caught up in ideological rhetoric and stop worrying about the pundits on Fox News. Instead, we should focus on issues that really matter to all Americans, like education, health care and economic opportunities."

Dickinson echoed Kofman's sentiments that Fiorina was an unpretentious speaker, noting that his style of lecture was "very accessible and low-key."

Fiorina ended with his analysis of what happened in the 2004 elections. The popular belief that Bush won on the basis of moral values, according to Fiorina, is a myth. Rather, the controversial issue of terrorism fueled Bush's victory. More surprisingly, Fiorina asserted, "women by and large accounted for the swing to George Bush," not social conservatives. According to extensive research, women were the prime target in the Republican Party's strategy of portraying Bush as the leader who could ensure the most secure nation.

The lecture concluded with a question and answer session. But the fun did not end there for everyone, though. Members of the Political Science department "went out afterward with Mo and had a grand old time," according to Dickinson.

"Everybody was very pleased," Dickinson added, for "they don't get any bigger in American politics than [Fiorina]."