Source: Los Angeles Times
by James Piazza
“There are several important drivers of political violence at work in the U.S. today, according to my own research and research by other scholars. The United States is currently very politically polarized, meaning that Americans are sharply divided against one another along partisan lines. They are suspicious and hostile toward one another, and this produces a tense and volatile environment for politics and public life. This has produced a ‘zero-sum’ environment in which every election and political contest is perceived as a ‘do or die’ moment. There is also a moral dimension to polarization in the U.S. Each side views members of the other party not as merely having a different view on politics but rather as evil or immoral.” (04/27/26)