Elections used to be about who can win the middle. As the candidates and parties reached for the undecided voters in the middle – the swing voters, the split-ticket voters – they were finding common ground, talking about the same issues and even the same solutions. The campaigning process helped the governing process work.
When the campaigns shifted to winning by maximizing their base vote and using wedge issues to turn out that base – they polarized politics. The campaigning process made the governing process more difficult.
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