As Americans are getting ready to go the polls on Tuesday to pick their next president, a remarkable presidential campaign is coming to an end. And while many people will be relieved that this seemingly endless, often toxic campaign is finally over, just as many people are now anxiously awaiting what comes next. Here is a country so divided that election offices have been reinforced with bulletproof glass and security doors because an eruption of violence is seen as a real possibility in light of what happened in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
In recent years, the political culture has become so polarized that compromise seems impossible and that both Democrats and Republicans can barely imagine a future in which their candidate loses. Amid this climate, there’s a growing frustration with the state of politics in the United States, which is seen overwhelmingly negative, according to a 2023 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. When asked to describe the current state of U.S. politics in ONE word in an open question, 79 percent of respondents used a negative term compared to just two percent who associated politics with a positive word. There isn’t a single positive word among the 50 most frequently used terms, with divisive, corrupt, messy, bad and polarized top of the list.
