Election confirms deep ideological divide

By Stanley Feldman and Jeanne Zaino

The 2012 presidential election confirmed an unpleasant fact about modern American politics: Americans are exceedingly polarized in their political beliefs. The U.S. electorate in 2012 was deeply divided ideologically -- and it was reflected in their votes for president.

Forty-nine percent of voters in the CBS exit poll want all or part of the 2010 health care law repealed, and 83 percent of them voted for Romney. 44 percent want the health care law left as is or expanded, and 87 percent of them voted for the president.

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Voters also were split on the role of government. Fifty-two percent said the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals, while 43 percent said that government should do more to solve problems. Three quarters of the first group voted for Romney, while eight in ten of the second group voted for Mr. Obama.

This ideological division extends to beliefs about the U.S. economic system. Fifty-five percent of voters believe that the economic system favors the wealthy; 71 percent of them voted for Mr. Obama. Thirty-nine percent said that the economic system if fair to most Americans and three-quarters of these voters supported Romney.

It's not just economic issues that divide the American public. Those surveyed in the exit poll split almost evenly when asked if they want their state to legally recognize same-sex marriage: 49 percent said yes and 46 percent said no. Mr. Obama received almost three-quarters of the votes of those who favor same-sex marriage, and Romney won the same fraction of those opposed. Almost eight in ten whites who call themselves evangelical or born-again voted for Romney.

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There were also deep geographic differences evident in support for Mr. Obama and his opponent. Mr. Obama won 70 percent of voters living in big cities in the U.S., while Romney got 58 percent of those living in small cities and rural areas. Majorities of big city voters think the government should do more to solve problems, and 63 percent support the 2010 health care law. Fifty-five percent of voters living in small cities and rural areas believe that government is doing too much, and 63 percent want all of some of the health care act repealed.

Both the Obama and Romney campaigns fought hard for the women's vote this year. Yet one of the key stories to emerge from the CBS Exit poll is that women are not one monolithic voting block. While it is true that women favored the president by double digits this year, largely echoing his thirteen point lead among women in 2008, when you look deeper it becomes clear that there is more to this than just gender.

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Mr. Obama's support among women becomes clearer when you consider gender and marital status. While non-married women are overwhelmingly supportive of the president, 67 to 31 percent, married women favor Romney by a 10 point margin (54 to 45 percent). This pattern is apparent not just in the national polls, but in many of the swing state polls as well, including Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin among others.

A similar pattern emerges when gender is considered along with race. Whereas Mr. Obama enjoyed overwhelming support among black and Latino women, white women supported Romney, 56-42 percent.

In addition to non-married women, other key components of Mr. Obama's constituency were young people, racial and ethnic minorities. These are the same groups that made up much of Mr. Obama's voting block four years ago. In 2008, for instance, 66 percent of young people age 18-29 supported the president, just six percentage points more than this year. Similarly, in 2008, 95 percent of blacks supported Mr. Obama, compared to 93 percent this election cycle. This pattern is repeated among Hispanics, who in 2008 supported Mr. Obama over John McCain 67-31 percent and this year came out in even larger numbers, 69 to 30 percent.

Despite the similarities between these two elections, Mr. Obama's margin of victory this year is smaller than it was four years ago. This is due primarily the fact that while the president won independents handily in 2008 (52 percent-44 percent). This year independents supported Romney by four points, 49 percent-45 percent. A second factor which contributed to this difference, albeit to a lesser degree, is race. While whites supported McCain in overwhelming numbers (55 percent-43 percent), Romney won whites by even more -- 58 percent-40 percent.

Stanley Feldman is a professor of political science at Stony Brook University; Jeanne Zaino is a professor of political science at Iona College

[KennethKrieger]

The Demorats want to tax and spend us into bankruptcy and the right wing Republicans do not want to help anybody.They both have spending problems. They claim that our schools have left us with poor math skills. I will listen to them as soon as they use their math skills to cut spending and balance the budget. We are the country that went to the moon with average students and average math skills, but that is not good enough for Washington and the Scialist Press. Kenneth Krieger Cape Coral, Florida

[IMark_S]

Oh please. Obama has continued almost every single Bush policy and the left haven't said a peep. Where did those war protesters go? Where are the protests against the patriot act (that Obama has expanded)?

The left and right are EXACTLY the same. It's why they don't get along. The right has abortion and the left has guns.

Get rid of the religious right and the progressives and we probably could get things done.

[pathe7]

Maybe Colon Powell will run for the GOP next time.

[SkeeterVT]

The only reason that Republicans held on to their majority in the House is the redistricting after the 2010 Census. With the GOP in control of teh House, they drew district lines ti preserve Republican control. Otherwise, the Democrats would have made a clean sweep of the Senate, House and White House. Even so, the Republicans still lost four House seats.

[AwareObserver]

Powell and Petraeus. Understand the military but the military is not a "democracy" and certainly not a republic. These two went to the top of their society but have not much understanding of the complexity of a civilian society. Neither should be nominated; each ought to stay home and write their memoirs.

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

PourpaixPourpaix says:I'm having trouble seeing the part where America is in a deep ideological divide.
---
Hint: it's the red vs blue states.

[pathe7]

How about a third party and a purple state? Perhap the mascot animal could be a bat.

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

I thought mitt cost himself the election the day he picked that dufus Ryan.

[SteveGinGTO]

Well, what do you expect? The John Birch Society (*** Tea Party) has successfully hijacked what used to be a civilized political party and has tried to hijack the country, too. FINALLY real-world Americans who aren't insane have been able to fend them off a little. The GOP certainly didn't. All the hollering and bullying on cable TV and in the news media pushed everyone around for 20 years now (it started with Rush Limbaugh), and FINALLY people have said, "Enough is enough." There is no divide. It is sane people trying to stave off the crazies. We have the right to do that, you know. But this is not the end of it. The crazies will try to find a way around all of this. We will have to beat them down in 20124, 2016, 2018 and 2020 before we can feel like this might become the United States of America again - the one we all grew up with in the mid-'50s when America WAS the best country in the world - not just a country that lives off the glory of the past. America can be great again - but not as long as the crazies on the Right have control of the GOP.

[PomoSapien]

Actually, almost all types of Americans are pretty much unified on what we want and need and what direction we need to head in together. The exception is straight white men. But because they are a large and powerful group and their views are disproportionately represented in the media, the whole thing seems a lot more divisive than it actually is.

[mindbirdNEADB]

First, Democrats won the Presidency and the Senate. Second, a well-researched article at Slate points out that a lot of gerrymandering went to prevent Democrats winning more House seats.

The only divide is between a relentlessly vocal band of religious and fiscal extremists and the rest of us.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

I'm having trouble seeing the part where America is in a deep ideological divide. Most folks I know figure they're sending representatives to government to figure out how to maintain a good, secure life in America. They look at these ridiculous wars and wonder why they are necessary. They see prisoners tortured and don't see the point. They see their civil rights eroding and wonder why their representatives are turning against the American Constitution. They see the fat cats sucking up the money and wonder why nobody's trying to fix the economy so most folks can just work, live, and have a few years of peaceful retirement. Yes, a few of us have different ideas on how to solve some of the problems, but when was the last time you saw a couple guys rolling around the mud in your local neighborhood yelling about the size of government or whether to allow same-sex marriage. The only ideological differences I see are those made by a couple of political parties wanting to be the boss of the world. That's got nothing to do with what Americans want.